Relief and Rebuilding from Nepal Earthquake

Giant "tipper trucks" continue to reach the villages here at Her Farm in the Dhading District thanks to the road improvements your support allowed us to make. People are starting to receive money from the government as well as the go-ahead to start rebuilding. These huge trucks are able to bring 3-4 times the materials in one load, compared to the smaller trucks. Before the road improvements, only small trucks were able to navigate the road up to the villages but now these large ones can as well. That hasn't hurt the small truck business though, in fact it's beter for them as well. Instead of only one small truck serving these villages, as it was before the quakes, we now have 3 smaller trucks taking farm products down to market and bringing materials up on a daily basis. The people in the village win two ways. First they can get more product to market and at better prices due to competition in the trucking sector now.  Secondly, they can transport far more building materials at far less cost than before. 

I'm attaching some photos of progress on the first full-service emergency shelter/emergency coordiation center in the country which we are building at Her Farm Nepal, as well as some photos of the giant trucks bringing building materials up for that project. 

The road needs more improvements to reach some upper villages and those same upper villages are experiencing water shortages as well. We are currently examining just how to get water up to them as well as how to further improve the road, so please, don't forget us here in Nepal, rebuilding is really just begun and the funding from the government isn't going to get much done. 

Thanks for your continued help 

Scott

Ground has been broken on the Dhading District's first and only disaster relief center. In fact we're only aware of one other such facility in the entire country of Nepal. In the past year and half, work has been progressing slowly throughout Nepal to recover from the massive 2015 quakes. Meanwhile at various locations in Nepal there have been huge landslides and severe flooding. No where are there Emgergency Preparedness Shelters equipped to assist people in times of trouble nor are there command and control centers to help villages organize in disasters. 

We're building a complete center to serve the villages surrounding Her Farm. When complete the center will have a medical clinic, small medical lab to support the clinic, a tailoring center to make clothing for disaster victims, 10,000 gallons of freshwater supply, sleeping area for up to 150 people, kitchen capable of feeding 150 people a day, solar and other backup power systems, multiple toilets, a local FM radio to disseminate news throughout the local communities and trained staff to manage everything.  

We have trained one girl as a nurse who is now on duty at Her Farm and we have two other local girls from the village in training, one to be a nurse assistant and one as a lab technician. In addition we have others from the village in training as veterinary technicain to care for any injured livestock and agricultural technician to oversee and assist with farm recovery efforts following disasters. We have one woman on the staff fully trained in FM radio operation and we are training other women in photography and videography to mobilize as field observers for disasters. 

There is nothing else like this anywhere in Nepal. The building itself is paid for thanks to donors. We are now seeking help for beds, blankets, huge pots and pans to prepare large quantities of food, bowls and cups, stainless steel food prep tables and kitchen utensils as well as medical lab equipment and FM radio equipment. 

Estimated completion of construction with be in 6 months.