Nepal Earthquake Relief and Recovery

Monsoon season has arrived in Nepal and this has brought heavy rains on a daily basis. For survivors of the earthquakes these rains bring more problems and worry.

Heavy rains can lead to landslides and flash floods, which are new disasters in themselves. Even where communities are spared from these new disasters the severe weather still compounds the problems caused by the original earthquakes.

For example the earthquakes left 1.4 million people in need of food assistance. This is a particular problem in remote mountain areas where almost 70% of people struggle to eat enough to stay healthy.

This problem is made worse by the monsoon as rains cause road closures, and this makes travel to and from communities even harder than normal. So, when we recently provided food aid to 43 families in Pyrae, Sindhupalchok district, we couldn’t simply drive to the village. Instead the families had to make the long walk down the mountain and then carry all 2,500kg of aid back up!

This is incredibly tiring for those already low on energy from hunger, but the people here are born survivors and are determined to help us help themselves.

The heavy rain also brings the need for shelter into sharp focus. The earthquakes destroyed almost 600,000 homes and hundreds of thousands of families still lack weather-proof shelter.

In response we’ve continued to provide Shelter Kits, containing roofing tin and fixings, to help survivors put a sturdy roof over their own heads as quickly as possible. While many more people still need help we’re very thankful that your amazing support has enabled us to protect almost 1,300 people from the worst of the monsoon rains.

But the heavy rains cause other problems too. The earthquakes destroyed over 36,000 classrooms leaving over one million kids with a place to learn. Proper repair and reconstruction of schools is impossible during the monsoon. So temporary classrooms are essential for getting kids back into education.

Our main focus for such classrooms is currently in Sindhupalchok, the worst affected of all Nepal’s districts. Sindhupalchok lost over 4,000 classrooms and the devastation here is epic.

The Nepalese resilience is inspirational through, and so we’re not put off by the scale of the challenge. Instead we’re focusing on what we can do. And we're steadily get more and more kids back to school with each week that passes.

At the Balephi Secondary school we recently provided a sturdy bamboo framed tent, with tin walls around the bottom to keep the ground water out. We also repaired school benches to give the kids somewhere to sit.

This provided functional classrooms but, recognising that many kids have suffered a lot of trauma and distress, we also wanted to give them a little fun.

So, to finish the temporary classrooms we invited the kids to paint the inside of the tin walls. They painted flags, buddha, lotus flowers, scenes from the countryside and much more. The kids loved being able to decorate their own classroom and seeing the smiles on their faces reminded us once again how much strength and beauty there is Nepal.

So, despite the monsoon, and the devastation left by the earthquake, we continue to work alongside survivors, and draw strength from each other as we do.

Thank you so much for making this possible!

This July 15 GlobalGiving will be matching donations to our Nepal projects by an amazing 50%.

Matching will start at 9am Eastern Time (or 1pm in the UK) and donations up to $1,000 (or £600 in the UK) will be matched per donor while funds remain. So, please consider making a gift on July 15, and please also spread the word about this incredible opportunity.

As always, if you ever have any queries about how we’re using your donation, please don’t hesitate to email Andy@IDVolunteers.org. I would be delighted to hear from you

As IDV’s CEO I recently flew to Nepal to support our team and see the situation on the ground for myself. As part of this trip I was fortunate enough to travel to Arukharka, in Nuwakot district, in order to deliver and help set up a temporary classroom for the community’s high school.

Arukharka is only about 40 miles from Kathmandu but it’s remote, mountainous location means that the journey takes about 4 hours. The first 2 hours are easy enough as the roads are in relatively good condition. But then you have to leave the main road and start along a bone-jarring, rocky track up the mountain itself.

Happily I don’t suffer from vertigo as the track is incredibly narrow and at times the 4x4 we hired for the trip had to squeeze between large boulders and the steep drop down into the valley below.

It’s a tiring journey but once we arrived in Arukharka it all became worth it as the villagers warmly welcomed us with a delicious lunch of “Dal Bhat”, which consists of steamed rice and lentil soup.

After lunch, and a refreshing cup of local tea, or “Chai”, we set to work on the temporary classroom. As school was supposed to start last week we wanted to get a classroom set up as soon as possible and so in this case we’d decided to use a 6m by 14m military tent.

The tent canvas alone weighs more than 60kg and so rather than also transport its large, heavy metal frame up the mountain we’d asked the villagers to cut down and dry bamboo we could use instead.

We immediately got to work setting out fourteen bamboo posts for the classroom’s main skeleton. It was hard work digging holes and hand mixing concrete for the posts but by working alongside the school teachers and kids’ parents we got this important work done by the end of the day.

We then ate more Dal Bhat for dinner and pitched our tents for the night. We woke just after dawn the next day, partly because the village always rises early to make the most of the daylight, but also because we were keen to finish the work we’d started.

On this second day we were joined by some skilled local builders to undertake the more complicated job of framing the classroom roof.  Bamboo is a traditional building material in Nepal and it was amazing to learn from the local builders as they selected, cut and shaped the bamboo as needed.

It was another long day but by dusk the tent canvas was lifted over the frame and the job was pretty much done. There’s definitely more help still needed at the school but we were all delighted to have set the tent up as this will allow at least 50 of the village kids to start class again.

What’s more it was an incredible privilege to be welcomed into the village and to work hand in hand with such beautiful, strong people.

This was the fifth tent our team has provided in the last two weeks and we’re looking forward to building many more classrooms in the weeks and months ahead.

This work is only possible because of your amazing support and we hope some of the photos in this report also show what your generosity is making possible.  Thank you so much!

As always, if you ever have any queries about how we’re using your donation, please don’t hesitate to email Andy@IDVolunteers.org. I would be delighted to hear from you.