Support Nepal Earthquake Relief

The Nepal earthquake of April and May 2015 damaged numerous physical structures, including those of many schools. The facility of Pushpanjali Secondary School located in Lalitpur was also damaged, because of which there was no facility for hand washing for the students.

Hence, at the request of the school management, ECCA supported the construction of hand washing station in this school, which benefited the entire school (40 teachers and 400 students).

Mr. Allen, Director of the school remarked “The construction of the hand washing facility will help to prevent the students from being afflicted by various diseases. Thank you for your help.”

We thank you for your support.

ECCA has been working towards developing water sanitation and hygiene (WASH) facilities in the schools affected by Nepal earthquake 2015. The existing toilet, which was damaged by the earthquake, was repaired and new toilet constructed in Ganesh Basic School, Dolakha. 

In the developed facilities, wall painting was done. The ECCA counselors painted WASH related messages inside as well as outside the toilet building and on the wall next to the hand washing tap. The objective of the wall painting was to make the students aware about WASH and orient them on the proper utilization of WASH facilities.

Before organizing the program, the schools were informed about the details of wall painting. The school principal, teachers and parents assisted for the effective management of wall painting program.

The wall painting was done during summer vacation (the date was coordinated with the school), so as not to disturb the students in their regular class days. When the school opened after summer vacation, students were excited to see the paintings. In addition to providing useful messages, the painting made the physical infrastructures beautiful.

“The painted hand washing technique has helped to remind the students on proper steps related with the hand washing” remarked one of the teachers. The school teachers and students were thankful to ECCA for organizing such a program in the school.

We thank you for your continued support.

In June 2018, improved cook stove manufactured by Envirofit India was distributed to 340 households affected by April 2015 Nepal earthquake. These cook stove consumes less firewood, emits very less smoke, has high efficiency and are modular (can be easily carried from one place to another). The distributed model has been certified by the Government of Nepal.

These households were previously using traditional cookstove, which consumed much firewood, emitted much smoke thereby contributing towards indoor air pollution and affecting family health (especially those of women).

The cook stove recipients were from ward number 1 (Bhirkot village) located in Tamakoshi Rural Municipality, Dolakha. ECCA team coordinated with the local ward office for identifying these households.

The ward office president was thankful to ECCA and Global Giving Foundation for providing the cook stoves. He shared that out of total 1140 households in Bhirkot village, ECCA had distributed improved cook stove to total 540 households (in 2 lots). The remaining 600 households are yet to be provided improved cook stove, for which he further requested support.

We thank you for your continued support.

One of the recent support for earthquake affected schools in terms of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) includes infrastructure construction in Jalpadevi Basic School of Dolakha.

The problem of water unavailability and proper facilities prevailed in the school even before the earthquake; however, it became more severe after the earthquake of 2015. Temporary toilets built after the earthquake provided short-term relief to the school. The necessity to have proper and sustainable facilities was crucial.

To solve the problem, ECCA supported the school to build boys, girls and teachers toilet. The toilets under construction are equipped with proper water facilities and a handwashing station. The girls toilet additionally has an incinerator (to burn used sanitary pads) and separate urinal space.

The students are also excited about the new construction. “We are really happy and thankful”, shared the students. The support will benefit around 121 students, where 60% are female.

"With new toilets, we hope to improve hygiene related behaviour among students as well", shared the principal. The support will hopefully contribute to increase the regular attendance of students, especially girl students who often skip school during their menstruation.

ECCA is also thankful to all our contributors who have helped to make this possible. Your continuous support will help us to improve school environment of more schools in rural Nepal.

Earthquake aftershocks and the struggles of affected people, both have not left Nepalese people. As part of relief program, ECCA has been involved in the distribution of materials such as tents, water filters, first aid kit, stationaries for children etc. and also reconstruction of schools and WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene) infrastructures.

Dolakha is one of the most earthquake affected areas where 90% of the houses got destroyed. ECCA recently distributed improved cooking stove (ICS) to 200 households in Bhirkot village in Dolakha district. The beneficiaries belong to Majhi and Dalit communities, which are categorized under highly marginalized category in Nepal.  

All the households of the community had been previously using traditional firewood stoves. "Sometimes, it is really hard for us. The smoke from traditional firewood stoves makes it hard to breathe", said one of the beneficiaries. "Also, the forest is off limits for wood collection, and we have to struggle for hours."

The distributed improved cookstove has many advantages for community people, as it consumes less firewood and saves cooking time by 50%. "I think this support will enhance the living standard of Majhi community", shared ward president during the distribution. "And will also save a lot of time and effort."

There also have been frequent cases of people suffering from Tuberculosis, asthma etc. in the past. So, the support will also reduce indoor air pollution thereby improving the health of those who work in the kitchen, especially women and children.

This initiation is also expected to bring awareness among villagers to use more environment friendly technologies.

We thank you for your support.