SAN DIEGO (KGTV) – A San Diego-based nonprofit is assembling a medical team to deploy to flood-ravaged Nepal, as rescue efforts continue across the region.<\/p>\n
Michael Sohmer, a retired clinical pharmacist and co-founder of Sweeping Change, is coordinating the mission. The organization has led several medical missions to Nepal since its founding IN 2024.<\/p>\n
“Heartbreak, just heartbroken,” Sohmer said.<\/p>\n
Sohmer, who has decades of experience in disaster response, said the scale of the current disaster is unlike anything he has seen.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s very overwhelming to think about,\u201d Sohmer said.<\/p>\n
He has previously deployed to Nepal, including during the 2015 earthquake, which killed some 9,000 people. For that mission, he assembled a 14-member team of doctors, nurses, and paramedics. He hopes to put together a similar team and deploy to Nepal within a few weeks.<\/p>\n
“Immediate needs would include wound care, trauma care, treatment of infections,\u201d Sohmer said.<\/p>\n
Among those helping coordinate the mission is Dipak Giri, a trekking guide based in Kathmandu who serves as the group’s volunteer logistics coordinator. Giri has lost 6 friends in the disaster, and has spent recent days helping the families of the missing \u2014 going back and forth between four hospitals that are serving as morgues.<\/p>\n
“It’s like a bad dream, a very bad dream,\u201d Giri said.<\/p>\n
Giri described receiving desperate messages from the families of those unaccounted for.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy friend, his wife, contacted me, \u2018Please help me find my husband,\u2019\u201d Giri said.<\/p>\n
He said the scenes at the hospital are heartwrenching.<\/p>\n
“People are worried, crying \u2026 sadness. When you get there you start to feel the situation,” Giri said.<\/p>\n
The situation for nonprofits will be challenging. There is the threat of rain and more flooding. Dozens of miles of roads have been washed away, along with entire villages.<\/p>\n
Giri will help coordinate supplies and transportation on the ground, even as he continues to search for the missing.<\/p>\n
“I don’t have any words, makes me sad. I feel something empty. Still, I don’t believe,” Giri said.<\/p>\n
A GoFundMe campaign<\/a> has been set up to help purchase humanitarian and medical supplies.<\/p>\n