San Diego nonprofit races to bring medical aid to flood-ravaged Nepal

SAN DIEGO (KUSI/FOX 5) — A San Diego nonprofit is stepping in to help victims of catastrophic flooding in Nepal as rescue crews race against time to find survivors.

A week after disaster struck, more than 1,000 people are dead and around 4,000 remain missing in the small South Asian country, and the human toll is growing by the day.

Haunting images show the aftermath of a massive glacier collapse on Aug. 26 along the Nepal–China border, which wiped out entire villages.

"You know you contact your friends, your colleagues to make sure they're safe," said Michael Sohmer, co-founder of Sweeping Change .

The people Sohmer knows personally there are not affected, but his nonprofit partner and Nepali native Hem Rai's family is.

"According to my niece her husband, uncles and aunts and two cousins washed away. Entire house. Pretty sad," said Rai, president and co-founder of Sweeping Change.

Sohmer, a retired clinical pharmacist and deputy commander for DMAT, a federal disaster response team, has spent years helping the Nepalese. He was just there in May.

Sometimes in the hardest moments, but always where the need is great.

"Even during regular times, I see a lot of people they have not enough medical need and also doesn't have enough education support," said Rai.

That calling is how the two first met. "I was just bebopping around Encinitas, and I saw earthquake relief on the window, and I walked in and I introduced myself," said Sohmer.

In 2015, Sohmer and Rai teamed up on a humanitarian mission to Nepal providing relief after a devastating earthquake. That included organizing doctors and nurses to join.

"We do crews, and of course medical supplies and all those tents, pots and pans, rice," said Rai.

Now their nonprofit is mobilizing a medical team to head back in early October for a two-week mission. "We'll triage and treat like we did in the earthquake," said Sohmer.

To provide the humanitarian aid and medication, they're raising funds. "All that money will go to the people of Nepal," said Sohmer.

They're optimistic roads will be accessible when they hit the ground in Nepal in the weeks ahead so they can get to the hardest-hit areas.

For the two friends, hope keeps them going, as they continue showing up for others. "I believe they will come together to build their country and they will rise again," said Rai.

Anyone interested in donating can visit their GoFundMe . They're also looking for volunteers with medical experience to reach out by emailing michael@sweepingchange.org.