New Delhi, Sept. 4 -- As images of homes swept away, families torn apart and schools damaged by the devastating floods in Nepal continue to dominate television screens, another, far less visible consequence may soon begin to emerge. Beyond the immediate humanitarian catastrophe lies the possibility of an invisible aftershock-the trafficking and exploitation of vulnerable children.

The available evidence is already worrying. According to one estimate, the August 26, 2026 floods have left at least 17,000 children in urgent need of assistance, while displacement and increased movement-particularly around border areas-are heightening the risks of trafficking, exploitation, abuse and gender-based violence. Earlier, research found that 95% of weather-related child displacements in Nepal were caused by floods, with more than 2,36,000 child displacements attributed to weather-related disasters over seven years. There is also a particularly important precedent: after Nepal's 2015 earthquake, trafficking risks increased sufficiently for Nepal Police to establish additional border vigilance, while UNICEF documented the vulnerability created by loss of livelihoods, family separation and displacement.

When the floodwaters recede, another danger may begin to move. It is the danger of children being separated from their families, disappearing from official records, being moved across districts and borders and eventually becoming victims of trafficking, forced labour, sexual exploitation, child marriage or other forms of abuse.

The scale of the current disaster is extraordinary. More than 1,200 people have reportedly died and thousands remain missing; entire communities have been destroyed and thousands displaced. Schools have been damaged or destroyed, and many children have lost access to the normal protective environment provided by school, family and community.

The first and perhaps most important trafficking risk is family separation. In a catastrophe in which thousands are dead or missing, children may be found without parents or caregivers. Some parents may themselves be searching for missing relatives. Others may be injured, hospitalised or unable to reach relief centres. At each stage, either at a relief centre or a temporary shelter, the child's identity and whereabouts become progressively harder to establish.

Traffickers rarely present themselves as traffickers. In the aftermath of a disaster, the trafficker may appear as someone offering food, accommodation, employment, education, medical assistance or help in finding relatives. The 2015 earthquake provides a powerful warning. UNICEF documented how the destruction of livelihoods and the weakening of family and community protection increased children's vulnerability to trafficking and unsafe migration.

Nepal will have to rebuild around 20,000 houses in flood-ravaged areas, as per one report. Reconstruction will create enormous demand for labour. As families lose homes, agricultural land, livestock, shops and other sources of income, children may be pushed into work. Boys may be vulnerable to construction work, transport, workshops, agriculture and other hazardous labour, while girls may face an additional set of risks involving domestic work, sexual exploitation and forced or early marriage. The danger is particularly acute when employment is offered outside the child's home district.

The Indian Dimension

For India, this cannot be viewed simply as a Nepalese child-protection problem. The open and extensive India-Nepal movement corridor creates both legitimate humanitarian mobility and opportunities for traffickers to exploit that mobility.

Historical evidence demonstrates that trafficking from Nepal into India is an established phenomenon. There are many cases in which girls and children have been rescued at Nepal-India borders, and traffickers have been using various methods such as deception, fake employment offers, fake marriages and other forms of coercion. The post-earthquake experience is even more instructive. UNICEF reported that Maiti Nepal's border-control posts recorded an increase of roughly 200-300 trafficking cases in the three months following the 2015 earthquake compared with the preceding three months.

Human trafficking is not merely a crime against an individual. Large-scale trafficking following a disaster can become a governance, border-management and national security concern. It can generate illegal migration networks, forged documentation, corruption at vulnerable points, exploitation networks, organised crime and cross-border criminal linkages. Therefore, India's disaster response to

Nepal should have two tracks running simultaneously-humanitarian assistance in saving lives and providing food, shelter and medical care, and protective security in preventing children and vulnerable persons from disappearing into criminal networks.

The floods may wash away homes and roads. Traffickers can exploit the resulting vacuum to wash away identities, childhoods and futures. Let every child separated by the flood be accounted for before the trafficker can account for him or her.

Views expressed are personal. The writer is former NDRF DG who led India's rescue team during 2015 Nepal earthquake

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.