The death toll in Nepal from Saturday's earthquake is set to rise higher and higher as rescuers battle their way to the more remote parts of the country. In the small town of Pokhara, the epicenter of the massive quake, not a single one of the thousand houses is standing. This means that the hospital, the surgeries, fire and police stations are all in ruins. Survivors have nowhere to go and no one to turn to. Power is out, communications cut and roads destroyed. The picture in Pokhara is likely to be repeated the length and breadth of the country. This is a human disaster of epic proportions. It needs an epic response by the international community. And that is what seems to be happening. Specialist teams are arriving at the airport of Nepal's capital, Kathmandu, sent by countries from all over the world. The most urgently needed are the search and rescue experts with their sniffer dogs and advanced thermal-imaging equipment. They will be able to locate and help dig out victims from the rubble. No less important are the doctors, nurses and mobile hospitals where the thousands of injured can be treated. Along with them are disease control teams who can tackle any epidemic such as cholera which can be caused by polluted water sources. Also arriving are tents and shelter for the tens of thousands who have lost their homes and have fled to the safety of open spaces. There are also supplies of food and water. It is too soon to assess the Nepali experience, but with each new disaster the global response does appear to be getting better. The Asian tsunami, eleven years ago, which took the lives of more than a quarter of a million people in a single day, taught lessons that seem to have been learnt. The sheer scale of the 2004 catastrophe challenged the international response. The unfolding tragedy of the earthquake in Nepal is at least concentrated in a discrete region. The Nepalese are also fortunate that they have two superpowers, India and China, as neighbors. This matter is particularly important in the provision of helicopters, which are essential to carry rescuers and provisions to the hundreds of communities that have been cut off by blocked or ruined roads and collapsed bridges. Both countries are also well positioned to ship in heavy lifting equipment to help in the search for survivors and clear away rock and rubble from blocked routes. It must be hoped that the organization of the huge international rescue and aid effort will be effective. The Nepalese authorities face an immense task, identifying priority areas and sending foreign teams out to help in them. Good coordination and communications are key to success. Past experience has shown what a challenge this can be. The world needs to get better at working together at handling disasters. The obvious answer is to create a standing search and rescue force under the United Nations which trains to the same standard operating procedures and indeed comes together every year or two for exercises. The way this body functions in the field will be based on a distillation of the experiences of rescue teams in past catastrophes. The speed of the international response for Nepal has been admirable. It is what is happening now by way of effective coordination and cooperation of the rescue effort that is still a real challenge.
