How to help
How to helpafter the floods.
The August 26 flash floods in northern Nepal have devastated communities, displaced families and severely damaged homes, roads, bridges, hydropower facilities and other critical infrastructure.
Nepal’s responders, government agencies, scientists, technologists and local organizations are already at work.
If you are looking for how to help Nepal after the floods, there are several useful ways to contribute — whether you have money, technical expertise, scientific knowledge, technology, data or simply a few hours of unusually valuable time.
Choose how you can help
- 01
Donate to Nepal flood relief
Support organizations already delivering emergency assistance in affected communities.
Find ways to donate - 02
Volunteer your skills
Engineers, scientists, GIS specialists, researchers, designers and other experts can join teams working online around specific problems.
Volunteer your expertise - 03
Offer technology or resources
Companies can contribute engineers, cloud infrastructure, GPUs, satellite imagery, APIs, connectivity, equipment or funding.
Offer technology or resources - 04
Already working on the response in Nepal?
Tell us what problem you are trying to solve and what additional expertise or resources would help.
Request support
What happened in Nepal?
On August 26, severe flash flooding swept down the Bhote Koshi River into Nepal’s Rasuwa district, heavily affecting communities including Timure, Rasuwagadhi and Syabrubesi before moving downstream toward the Trishuli River system.
Homes, markets, roads, bridges, hydropower infrastructure and communications have been destroyed or damaged. Search, rescue, relief and monitoring operations are continuing across affected areas.
Scientists are still investigating the exact chain of events that produced the flood. Early analysis has focused on a high-altitude ice, rock and water event upstream, but important questions remain.
Donate to Nepal flood relief
For most people, the fastest way to help with immediate humanitarian needs is to support organizations already operating in Nepal.
Emergency needs can include shelter, clean water, medical care, food, hygiene supplies, protection and support for families who have lost homes and livelihoods.
The Government of Nepal has mobilized its disaster-management agencies, local authorities, health services and security forces, while organizations including the Nepal Red Cross, UNICEF, CARE and other local and international partners are supporting or preparing relief efforts.
Before donating
- Use official organization websites or verified government channels.
- Be cautious about bank-account details or donation links copied into social media posts.
- Check when a page was last updated.
- Whenever possible, support organizations already operating with local partners and established delivery systems in Nepal.
Volunteer your expertise from anywhere
You do not need to travel to Nepal. Some of the problems created or exposed by this disaster require expertise that exists all over the world.
Nepal Hackathon is helping assemble online expert teams around problems identified by people already working on them in Nepal.
Despite the name, this is not primarily a weekend coding competition. A team in Nepal helps define the problem: what is happening, what is already being done, what information or capability is missing, and what additional expertise or resources would actually help.
We then try to bring the right people together around that problem. Teams can work live when useful and asynchronously across countries and time zones. You might contribute three hours of specialist knowledge, work intensively for several days, or remain involved with a project for months.
Technical skills we need
- Software engineering
- Applied AI
- Data engineering
- GIS and geospatial engineering
- Remote sensing
- Computer vision
- Machine learning
- Cloud architecture
- Backend and API engineering
- DevOps and SRE
- Cybersecurity
- Networking and connectivity
- Mobile and offline-first engineering
- Product and UX design
- Technical program management
Scientific and domain expertise we need
- Hydrology
- Glaciology
- Geology
- Climate science
- Remote sensing
- Civil and infrastructure engineering
- Disaster risk
- Early-warning systems
- Economics and development
- Public health
- Humanitarian response
- Research with deep knowledge of Nepal and the Himalayas
Other expertise can matter too
- Communications
- Fundraising
- Translation
- Project management
- Data visualization
- Operations
- Policy
- Research
Already working on a problem in Nepal?
This side of the network is even more important. We do not want outside contributors inventing problems for Nepal.
If you are a responder, scientist, researcher, technologist, drone operator, institution, local government or community organization already working on something, tell us where additional capacity would help.
For example
- We need satellite imagery of this area.
- We need someone to process these drone images.
- We have data but need a GIS specialist.
- We need engineers to connect these systems.
- We need GPU or cloud capacity.
- We need an expert to review this analysis.
- We have a useful project but need funding to continue it.
The better the brief, the better the team we can assemble around it.
Help responsibly
Good intentions can create additional problems during a disaster.
- 01Unless a recognized organization has specifically requested your presence, do not travel into affected communities simply because you want to volunteer.
- 02Do not send unsolicited physical goods without checking whether they are actually needed and whether someone can distribute them.
- 03Do not circulate unverified casualty numbers, missing-person information or disaster warnings.
- 04Do not publish sensitive personal or location data unnecessarily.
- 05Before building a new system, check whether a Nepal-based institution or another team is already doing the work.
Nepal’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has specifically asked the public to rely on official channels and avoid circulating unverified information while the response continues.
The principle is simple: strengthen the response already underway rather than creating a parallel one.
Help now — and stay for what comes next
Immediate
- Search and rescue
- Damage assessment
- Information
- Mapping
- Connectivity
- Relief
After the emergency leaves the headlines
- Monitoring
- Early warning
- Infrastructure
- Recovery
- Climate risk
- Resilience
A person might help for several hours. A team might stay together for six months.
The flood creates urgency. It should also create relationships and capabilities that remain useful afterward. That is a central idea behind Nepal Hackathon.
Frequently asked questions
- How can I help Nepal after the floods?
- You can support verified Nepal flood relief organizations, volunteer relevant expertise remotely, provide technology or resources, or help fund Nepal-based teams working on response and recovery.
- Where can I donate to the Nepal floods?
- Donate through official government channels or established humanitarian and Nepal-based organizations responding to the disaster. Check our verified Nepal flood donation page for current options.
- Can I volunteer for the Nepal flood response?
- Yes. Nepal Hackathon is recruiting technical, scientific and other specialists for online teams organized around specific problems identified in Nepal.
- Can I volunteer remotely?
- Yes. Most international contributors do not need to travel to Nepal. Teams can work online, both live and asynchronously.
- Does Nepal need software engineers?
- Potentially — but software engineers should be matched to actual needs. We are also looking for hydrologists, geologists, glaciologists, GIS experts, remote-sensing scientists, civil engineers, disaster specialists and other domain experts.
- Can my company contribute technology instead of money?
- Yes. Cloud credits, GPUs, AI APIs, satellite imagery, satellite tasking, mapping tools, connectivity, equipment and engineering support can all potentially be useful.
- Should I travel to Nepal to volunteer?
- Not unless an established response organization specifically needs your skills on the ground. Unrequested international volunteers can place additional demands on transportation, accommodation and response systems.
- What caused the Nepal flash flood?
- Scientists are investigating the precise sequence of events. Early assessments have focused on a high-altitude ice, rock and water event upstream, but important details remain under investigation. Follow official scientific and government updates rather than assuming a definitive cause.
- How can an organization in Nepal request technical help?
- Submit a problem brief describing what you are working on, what already exists, the gap you are encountering and the expertise, technology, data or funding that would help.
Help Nepal respond — in the way you can help best
- Some people can donate.
- Some can write software.
- Some understand glaciers.
- Some can analyze satellite imagery.
- Some can unlock a cloud account or a dataset.
- Some know exactly the specialist a team needs.
You do not need to do everything. You need to bring what you can to a problem where it is useful.
This page is updated as the Nepal flood response develops. For emergency information, missing-person assistance and official situation updates, rely on Government of Nepal and recognized response channels.