2015 Nepal Earthquake Relief

Well over a month after the first quake rocked Nepal, they were still experiencing tremors that were causing them to fear sleeping in their houses.

A few weeks after the quake on April 25 people began resuming their lives again when an aftershock of 7.3 magnitude shook the devastated areas again. This second big quake instilled the people with fear that they still were not safe. As our Global Assist Reps left the capital, Kathmandu, we began to see the areas of Nepal that had truly been devastated. Houses and in some areas whole villages were leveled from the massive earthquake. Many buildings that were not leveled with the first quake were toppled in one of the frequent aftershocks.

The death toll had climbed well over 8,000, making this Nepal’s deadliest earthquake since 1934.

Not only had the quake killed thousands and destroyed many buildings, but in the villages, houses collapsed on their only food supplies.  After a rain-filled week following the earthquake, their food supplies were ruined. This had left many thousands of Nepalis in need of food and the quake has shifted springs and destroyed wells, also creating a need for clean water.

Due to the great need for food, that was what became the primary focus for Global Assist as we travelled through the villages. We conducted three food distributions concentrating on reaching those groups who had been missed in other distributions. In each distribution we gave a 65 pound bag of rice, lentils, salt, sugar, tea and toiletries.

The first village, Baireni, we gave food to 107 families and also provided them with two water filter systems.     Our second distribution was in the village of Arket Bazaar, which was only ten miles from the epicenter of the April 25 earthquake. In this village we were able to provide 85 families food and four water filter systems.

In our third and final distribution, we were able to reach 350 families with food and supplies. This village, Sipaghat, was almost completely destroyed. Its district, Sindhupolchowk, north of Kathmandu and was one of the hardest hit by the earthquake.

Another way that Global Assist was able to help the Nepali people was to work with some ex-pats who run an orphanage in Kathmandu building shelters in the district of Sindhupolchowk. The summer is the rainy season in Nepal so it is an unfortunate time to not have any shelter. They had planned to assemble some small tin shelters for multiple schools, and also give shelters to several people who they heard were in need of shelter from the rain.

We were able to complete all nine shelters in one day. It was a long but rewarding day to see the people delighted to have a place to be dry once the rainy season finally set in. We were also able to provide some financial support to help a couple continue providing shelters after we left.

In total Global Assist was able to provide 15 water filter systems to schools, refugee camps and churches which were housing those whose homes were destroyed in the earthquake. One school that we visited had children out collecting water from a nearby spring, but the spring had been damaged by the quake and was no longer giving clean water. This school was just one of the four schools that we visited to give water filters that day.

As we went through the villages we were able to distribute the tarps that we had brought. We found that there was already a large effort to get tarps to every village, so we focused on those who were missed, or needed more than one due to the excessive damage their house sustained. We provided a total of 20 tarps.

Another part of our trip consisted of finding other organizations who are doing relief work through whom we can give financial support to assist with their relief work. We met with some other people as well who had asked for help, and heard their stories, and what they were in need of.

Through what was given we were able to help 542 families while we were in Nepal. Families in Nepal are large (we averaged a family to be around 7 people) so we figured that we were able to reach well over 4,000 people with enough food for a month! There are still many others who are receiving aid through the money that Global Assist was able to leave with other organizations doing relief work.