Nepal Earthquake Relief and Recovery Fund

“The coming monsoon makes the relief efforts – shelter, clean water and sanitation – even more urgent. Rising temperatures, contaminated water, poor sanitation and heavy rains pose a serious risk of landslides, and water and mosquito-borne illnesses.” - Nepal Youth Foundation project report

Just two months after earthquakes in Nepal killed more than 8,000 people, injured more than 22,000 (reported by UNHCR), and displaced millions (reported by BBC), the country has entered monsoon season. Already, floods and landslides have devastated six villages and killed at least fifteen people in eastern Nepal.

GlobalGiving partners, with support from your donations to the Nepal Earthquake Relief Fund, are working urgently to provide relief and rebuild communities as heavy rains threaten their efforts. The photos were provided by IsraAID on their efforts to build shelters for families that will withstand monsoon season.

• All 795 houses in the village of Sunkhani were destroyed by the earthquakes. As monsoon season begins, village residents fear that the plastic tents that serve as their temporary shelters will not provide adequate protection from severe weather. Binaytara Foundation is working to help the village rebuild the homes and is providing stable, metal roofs that can withstand the heavy rain and hail. International Disaster Volunteers (IDV) is distributing Shelter Repair Kits to residents in Arukharka village, so families can complete their own shelters in anticipation of the monsoon.
• The Nepal Trust is working in Sindalpulchowk, which sustained the highest number of earthquake fatalities of any district in the country. The Trust is providing tents, food, clean water and filters to ensure people are fed and kept warm during the rainy season and is also working to secure adequate, sturdy shelters in the advent of the storms.
• MADRE provided dry clothing and shelter to a mother and her newborn baby after the pair was rescued from a tent buffeted by heavy rains and hail; the organization is distributing relief kits with blankets, diapers, and basic hygiene supplies to pregnant women and new mothers affected by the quakes. MADRE’s women-run partner organizations are also supporting remote indigenous communities, many of whom have no other sources of humanitarian relief.
• Nepal Youth Foundation (NYF) is ensuring that hospitals are supplied with medical equipment and that discharged patients in Kathmandu and Pokhara are able to recuperate in “recovery centers”. NYF is especially concerned with women and children, distributing food, clean water, and toys, and operating day-care facilities to serve families that have lost their homes.

“[The monsoon season will] heap tragedy on top of tragedy for Nepal,” Laura Blank, spokesperson for World Vision, told The Wall Street Journal. She added that landslides are a particular concern as “the ground can give way and it’s not unusual for entire villages to be buried” and that the weather “would make it difficult for helicopters to fly, rubble from landslides can bury roads or hiking paths, and anyone walking on foot would find it nearly impossible to travel” to remote areas in order to provide resources and relief.

Your generosity and support for our partners committed to the long-term recovery in Nepal is making sure that survivors weather the storm and that all the progress made so far is not lost. Thank you.

When it comes to delivering aid in the aftermath of a disaster, connection is key. After the earthquake, many displaced Nepalis found themselves unable to connect with organizations to access essential needs, like food, water, and medical aid. We were fortunate enough to connect with Narayan Adhikari, from our partner, Accountability Lab, who’s working to make those vital links for survivors in Nepal.

Through Accountability Lab’s Mobile Citizen Helpdesk project, Narayan and Accountability Lab have been able to visit over 65 communities and directly solve over 100 problems for Nepalis seeking aid. Last month, we conducted this interview with Narayan over email, who shared with us the situation on the ground in Nepal as he sees it.

GlobalGiving (GG): Tell us about the situation where you are right now.

Narayan Adhikari (NA): I am in Nepal now, working with 32 Citizen Helpdesk volunteers. Despite huge tragedy, the helpdesk volunteers have been working around the clock to visit places where people have sheltered, hospitalized and displaced. I am also working with other Citizen Helpdesk partners, the government of Nepal, and the donor community to consolidate everyone’s efforts to provide assistance to the people on the ground.

GG: What is the most urgent need facing survivors?

NA: Not enough tents for shelter, rescue operation are predominantly limited to urban areas and their peripheries, while many families from remote district have been left out from receiving the support they need. Food supplies are very limited in many remote villages. The aid agencies are facing huge challenges to coordinate with one another and conduct needs assessment for proper and fair distribution of relief.

GG: What kinds of assistance are you providing to survivors?

NA: We are visiting the affected areas with the help of our volunteers, collecting information from direct interaction with victims, listening to their problems, helping them obtain appropriate information, and connecting them with relief organizations and the government. We are also working with the government to assess their data received from citizens through the mobile hotline 1234, where more than 25,000 voice calls have been received directly from citizens.

GG: What’s the biggest challenge you’re facing in delivering aid?

NA: One of the biggest challenges is getting the right information about the disaster. The media reports and government data are frequently not available. Other key challenges in the aid delivery are: lack of coordination among relief organization and government; unequal and unfair distribution of relief packages; difficulty reaching the most affected areas in remote districts. We are working to help alleviate these challenges as much as possible. Our biggest challenge is quickly raising the funds needed to roll this project out as far as possible.

GG: What do you believe the long-term recovery needs will be?

NA: More mobile helpdesks are needed to assess needs and gather feedback from the local people. The information should be shared with government and aid agencies, and these stakeholders should manage relief efforts with strong and efficient routes to reach affected households and individuals.

The current mechanism of budget allocation and disbursement is a very slow, lengthy, highly corrupt, and overly political process, and it is not going to solve the problem at all as long as we are not able to create shortcuts for the current disbursement mechanism (i.e. from center to household without any intermediately).

Individual households need to be provided with enough support with technical skills, proper materials and labor to sustainably rebuild their homes. There has to be citizen oversight to monitor relief and make sure it is utilized in effective ways.

GG: How long do you expect to be working on relief and recovery efforts?

NA: At least 2 years. Even as we transition back to our other accountability programs, earthquake relief and the accountability of the aid system will continue to be a key issue and component that they cover.

GG: How does the situation compare to other disasters you’ve responded to in the past?

NA: We have not experienced anything like this before in Nepal. The other key country that Accountability Lab works in is Liberia—which just faced the deadly Ebola crisis last year. That it was a very different sort of crisis, and our response there focused more on creative awareness campaigns. However, in both situations we had to mobilize quickly, find ways for citizens to get involved in improving their community, and try to build trust between citizens and their government. Both have affected all aspects of the country and will have long-term repercussions.

GG: From your perspective, are relief efforts well-coordinated between the various NGOs and government responders?

NA: Not really, and that is part of the reason why we’ve set up the Mobile Citizen Helpdesks. With better coordination between NGOs and government, the people would can get better quality support, sooner.

GG: What about the situation currently in Nepal do you think most people may be unaware of?

NA: People are traumatized and are full of fear. Many people, especially from affected communities, do not have any idea what to do and have not been able to get reliable information and direct channels to raise their voices.

GG: What are the advantages that a local NGO has over an international NGO? vice versa?

NA: Local NGOs are more connected with the locals and understand the situation better than INGOs. Thus they have more human capital and contextual understanding, while INGOs typically have more financial resources.

GG: What about Nepal specifically makes responding to this earthquake a unique challenge?

NA: Nepal hasn’t had local elections in 18 years so there is very little accountability in the local government, which has an important role to play in distributing aid. There is systemic corruption and a highly inefficient bureaucracy in the government that has delayed Constitution making for years, and is in many responding similarly to the disaster. Furthermore, given Nepal’s poor economy, a huge number of Nepalis work abroad, thus leaving a gap in an important workforce. On the other hand, Nepal has a very active youth and civil society population that have risen to the challenge in many ways.

As Narayan explained, the relief effort in Nepal is far from over. Our partners on the ground are continuing to work tirelessly to provide support and services to Nepalis in need. With your continued kindness and generosity, we can ensure a strong and lasting recovery.

I’m Mari, the co-founder and president of GlobalGiving, and I wanted to reach out personally to thank you for supporting earthquake relief in Nepal. As you likely heard, for the second time in less than three weeks, a major earthquake struck in Nepal today. This time it was 7.3 magnitude tremor, centered 50 miles east of the capital in Kathmandu.  Thanks to your support, our partners on the ground are responding quickly and delivering aid to newly affected areas.

You have been part of a tremendously compassionate response.  We’ve seen people giving from 107 countries around the world, including young children, grandparents, Nepali citizens, climbers who have summited Mt. Everest, and leading companies and their employees.

We know that every donation has a story. It represents compassion, kindness, and sacrifice.

Here’s one story we heard last week that underscores the power of a global community:
“We’re donating this money because we know what it is like to be in a situation like the one the people of Nepal find themselves in.  Many of us were so devastated during the war in Liberia; we lost everything, even loved ones. Now looking at what we saw on TV and on the internet about Nepal, really motivated us to help with the little we are able to give right now. The war in Liberia and the Ebola situation we are going through are enough to tell us what those people are going through.”

The $200 donation was sent by Nelly Cooper, the president of West Point Women for Health and Development, a grassroots nonprofit in the West Point slum of Liberia’s capital city of Monrovia.  Nelly and the West Point Women have been vital frontline workers in the fight against Ebola over the past year. Many of the West Point Women volunteered to lead community education and advocacy efforts during the height of Ebola, even when their own families were affected. Funded in part by GlobalGiving donors, these women have played a tremendous part in helping Liberia become Ebola-free. Now they’re giving alongside you to help support recovery in Nepal.

Thank you for being part of an incredible global community that is deeply committed to building and supporting a community of local nonprofits, who, after disasters, are often best-positioned to provide the long-term recovery work that communities need long after the news stories have faded from the headlines.

We’ll continue to do our part to encourage more leading companies to join you in supporting Nepal recovery. There are several companies who have already made a commitment to join you in giving to GlobalGiving’s Nepal Earthquake Relief Fund: Discovery Communications, Ford Motor Company Fund, TripAdvisor, and VMware Foundation were among the first to pledge grants to the Fund. Companies including BlackRock, Celanese Foundation, Discovery, DuPont, Ford, Lilly, NetSuite, Nike, VMware, and others are matching employee donations or providing additional contributions. We expect these donations to total more than half a million dollars in the next month or so.

We look forward to a day when we receive word from a healing Nepali community that they are eager and able to support others in their time of need. Until then, we’ll be sending your support where it’s needed most; not just to the populous districts like Kathmandu and Sindhupalchok, but also in remote Gorkha district near the epicenter of quake.


Thank you again for your kindness.

Mari Kuraishi
Co-founder and President, GlobalGiving

Ten days after a 7.8-magnitude earthquake hit Nepal, your donations are already making a difference on the ground.  While more than 7,000 people are confirmed dead and close to 15,000 people are injured, you are making life a little easier for the millions more affected by this earthquake.  

GlobalGiving has already sent funds to 26 organizations working tirelessly to provide relief to the people of Nepal.  Your donation has contributed to the following efforts:

• Accountability Lab is setting up three citizen helpdesks to provide information to citizens related to the earthquake and relief efforts, as well as feeding information back up to aid providers to ensure they are more accountable to Nepali citizens.
• ActionAid International is providing food packages, hygiene kits, materials for shelter, and medical supplies, as well as assisting with family reunification and psychosocial support for survivors.
• The Binaytara Foundation is providing water, blankets, tents, and food to survivors in and Sindhupalchok and Dhading districts.
• BRAC has sent a team of doctors, emergency response specialists, and public health experts from Bangladesh to assist survivors, provide medical treatment, and distribute blankets, food, and medical supplies.
• Care Nepal aims to initially reach 100,000 people with emergency shelter, clean water, family kits, and hygiene items.
• Creating Hope International is providing food, medicine, and rebuilding funds to the Bon communities in Kathmandu and northern Nepal.
• Educate the Children is rebuilding and repairing schools in 11 areas hard-hit by the earthquake.
• Empower Dalit Women of Nepal is providing emergency relief to five communities in Gorkha, including rebuilding funds to women’s groups to replace homes, livestock, and harvests lost during the earthquake.
• Global Links is providing medical supplies and surgical equipment to organizations and hospitals in Kathmandu.
• The Himalayan Cataract Project is distributing food, medical supplies, and relief items, as well as providing treatment to survivors suffering from eye trauma and other injuries.
• International Disaster Volunteers is providing shelter relief to the 500 residents of Arukharka, in Nuwakot district.
• The Jean Houston Foundation is providing food, clean water, fuel, shelter, hygiene products, and other relief supplies to more than 3,500 alter-abled people, plus their families and neighbors.
• MADRE is using its methodology of women-centered disaster relief to support four local organizations on the ground as they send relief supplies to seven districts, create safe spaces in Kathmandu for women to receive aid, and work with local hospitals to provide health kits targeted to women's needs, including special supplies for pregnant women and mothers with newborns.
• The Mountain Fund is providing supplies for temporary shelter to nearly every family needing it in the villages of Mankhu and Goganpani. Tarps and tin roofing are being provided, as well as sacks of rice, beans, soya and other foodstuffs.
• The Nepal Trust is working with medical volunteers from the Nidan Hospital, providing medical and logistics support, and distributing tents, food, clean water, and other relief supplies in Sindalpulchowk.
• The Nepal Youth Foundation is providing emergency supplies to hospitals, sheltering and caring for people discharged from hospitals who cannot return home, particularly women and children.
• NIDAN is an Indian organization providing relief supplies in partnership with NEST Nepal in Kathmandu, Pokhara, and affected areas in Bihar, India.
• Our Sansar is providing relief supplies, including tents and blankets, in 6 Village Development Committees: Phulkharka, Mulpani, Gumdi, Slyankot, Jyamrung, and Tripureshwor.
• Peace Winds is delivering water, food, shelter, and hygiene kits in Sankh and remote areas in the Kathmandu Valley.
• Raksha Nepal is providing food, medicine, clean water, and other necessary relief supplies to exploited women and children, many of whom are denied from receiving government aid.
• UNICEF has mobilized to meet the needs of children affected by this devastating earthquake, supporting the supply of clean water, providing tents for medical facilities, providing supplies to reduce the risk of disease, providing emergency health kits, providing temporary learning spaces, and providing child-friendly spaces for psychosocial care.
• Village Volunteers is purchasing materials to rebuild the Mountain View Eco Farm, a sustainable and organic demonstration farm, in Pokhara.
• Water, Agroforestry, Nutrition and Development Foundation (WAND) is an award-winning Filipino organization that is providing local sanitation solutions, along with vegetable seed packets and garden tools to improve food security in the disaster recovery zone.
• Women LEAD is working with community leaders to distribute blankets and sanitary pads to those who need them, as well as providing necessary study materials, such as books and stationery, to 11th and 12th grade students. They have also been trekking to remote villages to deliver supplies, and are often the first responders on the scene.
• World Concern is distributing locally sourced survival kits, which include water purification tablets, tarps, blankets, food, medical, and more.
• World Vision is working in coordination with the Government of Nepal to provide emergency relief for 100,000 people, including shelter, non-food items, establishing child-friendly spaces, education, and water sanitation and hygiene.

You can click on the link to any of the individual projects to see the updates they’ll post about how they are using the funds.

We are sending funds to additional organizations this week and, as always, will keep you informed as to how your donations will be used. We have also posted a link to frequently asked questions on the page.  For now, these funds are supporting the immediate needs of the relief efforts.  In the coming weeks and months, your donations will support longer-term recovery efforts as people try to regain normalcy in their lives.  Thank you for helping the Nepali people in the aftermath of this earthquake.

On the morning of Saturday, April 25 we woke to the sad news of a 7.8 magnitude earthquake in Nepal.  We immediately launched a relief fund and began reaching out to our partners in Nepal.  The news we heard from the ground was devastating, but the outpouring of generosity by thousands of donors like you from 100 countries around the world has been extraordinary.

We have been in touch with more than 70 of our long-term partners on the ground and are talking with them constantly to determine the biggest needs in each community.  Our first disbursement will be sent this week, and we are committed to letting you know exactly how those funds are spent as soon as possible.

Your donation will initially support a mix of partners that have a specific expertise in emergency first response after disasters, such as International Medical Corps, Save the Children, and Mercy Corps.

Your donation will also support local organizations doing community-based work that is vital - but often overlooked - after a disaster, such as:

• Environmental Camps for Conservation Awareness, an award-winning Nepali organization founded in 1987 that is providing safe clean water to earthquake survivors.  
• Ama Ghar, a home for orphaned and abandoned children just outside of Kathmandu.  It was founded by Shrawan Nepali, who spent part of his childhood at the Paropokar orphanage in Kathmandu and later went on to complete his education in the United States.  Your funds will be used to repair the damage to the home and provide emergency supplies for the children.
• Himalayan Cataract Project, an organization that has provided cataracts surgery in Nepal since 1994 and is currently providing treatment to earthquake victims suffering from eye trauma and other injuries.
• Empower Dalit Women of Nepal, a group that has worked with Dalit women in Nepal for more than 15 years, will provide rebuilding funds to women’s groups in rural Gorkha communities to replace homes, livestock, and harvests lost during the earthquake.

Many of our other local Nepali partners are themselves recovering and dealing with aftershocks. We will continue to work with them as they coordinate their response in the coming weeks.  In the meantime, you can read about what each of these partners are doing on the ground in real time on this page.

Thank you once again for being a part of this global community of support for the survivors of this earthquake.  We look forward to sharing more stories from the ground in the coming days and weeks.