Nepal has become accustomed to counting its dead after disasters. Every monsoon brings familiar scenes: villages cut off by landslides, families stranded on rooftops by swollen rivers, vehicles buried beneath debris and helicopters scrambling to reach isolated communities. The country has shown remarkable resilience in coping with tragedy. Yet resilience should never be mistaken for preparedness.

As climate change intensifies extreme weather and Nepal's towns and cities expand into increasingly vulnerable terrain, the country's greatest challenge is no longer responding to disasters after they occur. It is ensuring that more people survive them.

Having spent the past 25 years working in Nepal's tourism and mountaineering sector, I have participated in high-altitude rescues, technical mountain operations and emergency response missions across some of the Himalayas' most demanding landscapes. I have worked with thousands of trekkers and climbers from around the world and taken part in numerous search-and-rescue operations.

One painful reality has remained constant throughout those years.

Too often in Nepal, what begins as a rescue mission ends as a body recovery.

Many of those victims might have survived had trained rescuers reached them sooner with the right equipment. Instead, precious hours are lost because no specialised team is available, communications break down or the necessary equipment simply does not exist nearby.

For rescue professionals, this is the hardest part of the job. Every recovery raises the same haunting question: could this person still be alive if help had arrived thirty minutes earlier?

Emergency responders around the world refer to the first 30 to 60 minutes after an accident as the "golden hour". During this brief window, rapid intervention often determines whether someone lives or dies. Trauma victims can be stabilised, trapped motorists extracted, drowning victims revived and injured climbers evacuated before their condition becomes irreversible.

In Nepal, however, those precious minutes are too often consumed by logistical delays rather than rescue itself. Volunteers search for ropes and boats. Local officials struggle to coordinate multiple agencies. Helicopters require administrative approvals. Roads are blocked. Families wait while valuable time slips away.

The consequence is measured not merely in damaged infrastructure but in preventable deaths.

I recently had the opportunity to observe China's modern Fire and Rescue Service. What impressed me most was not simply the sophistication of its equipment but the professionalism of its organisation. Highly trained rescue teams operate under a unified command structure, conduct regular exercises and specialise in responding to floods, earthquakes, fires, traffic accidents and technical rescues. Each unit is equipped for its specific mission and supported by modern communications and rapid deployment systems.

The lesson for Nepal is not that it should replicate another country's model exactly. Every nation must build institutions suited to its own geography and resources. But one principle is universal: preparedness saves lives. The government's recent rescue pact with airlines, drone operators and rafting agencies is therefore an encouraging step in the right direction.

By making helicopters, drones, rafts and trained personnel available for emergency operations, the agreement recognises a simple truth: saving lives often depends on reaching victims quickly during the critical golden hour.

Yet ad hoc partnerships, however welcome, cannot replace a permanent national rescue capability. Nepal still needs a professional Fire and Rescue Service with dedicated personnel, modern equipment and the capacity to respond rapidly in every district.

Nepal's geography makes the need even more urgent. We face virtually every major natural hazard imaginable. Monsoon rains trigger floods and landslides. Earthquakes remain an ever-present threat. Mountain regions experience avalanches and altitude emergencies. Rapid urbanisation has increased the risk of building collapses, industrial fires and road accidents. Climate change is making many of these hazards both more frequent and more severe.

Yet emergency response capacity remains uneven across the country. Outside major cities, many districts still lack technical rescue teams, specialised extraction equipment, rescue boats, heavy-duty drones and reliable emergency communications. Local volunteers often become the first responders despite having limited training and inadequate protective equipment.

This year's monsoon has once again exposed those shortcomings. Floodwaters have isolated communities, swept away roads and forced emergency evacuations across the country. Such events are no longer exceptional. They are becoming an annual certainty.

That reality demands a fundamental shift in thinking.

Nepal should establish modern Fire and Rescue Teams in every district headquarters and progressively extend them to every municipality and rural municipality. These units should not function solely as fire brigades. They should become integrated emergency-response services capable of handling the full spectrum of disasters Nepal faces.

Their responsibilities should include fire suppression, flood and swift-water rescue, landslide response, technical extraction from road accidents, earthquake search and rescue, rope and high-angle rescue, emergency medical assistance and disaster preparedness programmes in schools and local communities.

Each district should maintain a minimum operational capability: professionally trained firefighters and technical rescuers available around the clock; fire engines or rapid-response vehicles; rescue boats in flood-prone areas; hydraulic rescue equipment; rope rescue systems; drones for rapid assessment; modern communications; adequate personal protective equipment; and regular training exercises that simulate real emergencies.

Building such capacity will require more than purchasing equipment.

Nepal should establish a National Fire and Rescue Academy to train firefighters, technical rescuers and disaster-response specialists according to internationally recognised standards. Investment in people is every bit as important as investment in machines.

Equally important is institutional coordination. Nepal Police, the Armed Police Force, the Nepal Army, health institutions, local governments and volunteer organisations should operate under an integrated incident command system that enables resources to be mobilised quickly and efficiently. Too often today, agencies work in parallel rather than together.

The private sector also has an important role to play. Organisations such as the Gandaki Alpine Club have accumulated years of expertise in mountain rescue, rope rescue and technical rescue training. Working alongside government agencies, local authorities and international partners, such organisations can help develop a nationally recognised rescue workforce capable of responding to increasingly complex emergencies.

The benefits would extend well beyond disaster management. Faster rescues would save lives, reduce property losses, accelerate recovery and strengthen public confidence in government institutions.

A modern rescue service would also reinforce Nepal's reputation as a safe destination for mountaineering and adventure tourism, one of the country's most important economic sectors.

Governments often measure development by the roads they build, the airports they open or the hydropower they generate. These investments are essential. But no measure of development is more meaningful than protecting human life. Every citizen saved is a family preserved, a community strengthened and a future secured.

Many developed countries no longer regard Fire and Rescue Services as optional municipal amenities. They recognise them as essential public infrastructure, just as important as hospitals, highways and schools. Nepal should adopt the same philosophy.

The country must move beyond a culture of reacting to disasters towards one of preparing for them. Rescue should not begin only after lives have already been lost.

Every minute gained during an emergency can mean another person returns home alive.

For a country increasingly exposed to climate change and natural hazards, there can be no more important investment than one that gives its citizens a better chance of surviving disaster. Saving lives is the highest form of development.

Thakuri is an IFMGA/UIAGM mountain guide, high-altitude rescue professional and president of the Gandaki Alpine Club.