At last! After weeks of meetings and phone calls, discussions and form-filling and much prayer, UMN has been able to access a big World Food Programme helicopter to drop emergency relief materials to remote villages in Lapa and Jharlang, north Dhading.

On Monday and Tuesday (18-19 May) seven flights carried bags of rice and other foodstuffs, tarpaulins, utensils, blankets and hygiene kits for nearly 1500 households in those badly affected areas. The goods have been deposited in central locations, and will be carried out to remote villages. Soon, every household will have a good-quality tarpaulin, two warm blankets, and enough food for about three months.
 
This has been a massive logistical effort. UMN staff, partners and volunteers have worked tirelessly to purchase, load, unload, sort and store the goods. And our Disaster Management Advisor Binod Awale has been relentless in pursuing every avenue to get access to those helicopters… so much so that we’re now calling the big birds “Binod Airways”!