Days after catastrophic landslide flooding in Nepal left more than 1,000 people dead, Christian organizations and church networks are mobilizing for what they anticipate will be a years-long effort to aid survivors who've lost "everything," including countless children who've lost parents and are now living as orphans.
Amid the "stench of dead bodies" filling the air and people having to trek through mud up to their knees, entire communities in Nepal along the Lende Kholā and Trishuli Kholā rivers have been left completely devastated, with an uphill battle for recovery. "[Y]ou have this entire community in these areas completely overwhelmed by flooding and mud, and everything is gone," GFA World President Bishop Daniel Timotheos Yohannan told The Christian Post.
"Their animals are gone, their farmland is gone, their families are gone, their housing is gone, the schools are gone." Last Wednesday, a collapse of the Langtang Lirung mountainside into a glacial lake sparked a 5.2-magnitude landslide that resulted in the displacement of rock and ice into the river systems, creating massive debris flow and flooding that caused widespread destruction for villages dozens of miles downstream.
In interviews with The Christian Post, Yohannan, Operation Blessing President Drew Friedrich and Samaritan’s Purse CEO Franklin Graham described the dire situation on the ground as numerous homes, structures and churches have washed downstream. “Every church in America should be paying attention to this and to bring it before their people,” Yohannan proclaimed.
“Prayer is a mighty thing, and if we can get more of our people to pray, God can do incredible things.” While two churches affiliated with the Texas-based GFA World, formerly known as Gospel for Asia, were heavily damaged by the flooding, Yohannan praised the church leaders for stepping up to the plate despite the difficulties they face.