Kathmandu, Sept. 1 -- For four days, a couple in Nuwakot each believed that the other had been swept away by the flood. They were on opposite sides of the water, cut off, with no way to confirm the other was alive.

A psychosocial team from the Centre for Mental Health and Counseling Nepal finally reached both of them by phone and put them in touch. The moment they heard each other's voices, they refused to wait any longer, not for the road to clear or for the river to calm.

They wanted to be reunited immediately, and were flown across by helicopter, according to Gopal Bohara, the psychologist who helped make the call. When they reached a holding centre set up to house flood survivors, their children ran to them, crying.

This was one sm...