On 25th April, 2015 at 11:56 local time a strong earthquake with the magnitude of 7.8 Richter scale hit Nepal with the epicenter being Saurpani in Gorkha district located between capital Kathmandu and Pokhara. More than 50 aftershocks have been continuously felt in Nepal including 6.7 magnitude earthquake on 26th April, 2015 at 12:54 NST.
This earthquake has affected 39 districts badly. Among all, all districts in Kathmandu Valley, Rasuwa, Gorkha, Dolakha, Sindhupalchowk, Nuwakot, Dhading, Ramechhap, and Kavrepalanchowk are identified as the most affected districts. The death toll from the devastating earthquake has climbed above 6000 and more than 13000 people had been injured (till 30 April 2015), with the number of dead and injured expected to rise in the coming days. The earthquakes caused extensive damage to buildings rendered many wounded and homeless and millions of lives are at risk.
Among 14 working districts of SAHAS Nepal, 7 districts namely Gorkha, Dhading, Tanahu, Rasuwa, Lalitpur, Okhaldhunga and Makwanpur are highly affected. More than 80 per cent of the houses in SAHAS working areas of Rasuwa, Gorkha and Okhaldhunga have been destroyed or are in dilapidated state. Earthquake followed by rain has triggered landslide and wrecked more houses in the working areas.
Death toll of Community Based Organization (CBOs) members formed by SAHAS Nepal in Dhading (39), Okhaldhunga (7), Makwanpur (3) has been already reported. Thousands of local people were badly injured. People are living in the open spaces and waiting for support and help for their life. The most immediate needs are food assistance, shelter and medical treatment.
SAHAS Nepal has already initiated quick response relief program for Gorkha, Dhading, Tanahu, Rasuwa, Lalitpur, Okhaldhunga and Makwanpur districts. SAHAS staff has started visiting affected areas for needs assessment with aims to provide relief materials and plan rescue and relief operations. SAHAS has also started coordination with other institutions and government officials and is getting ready to launch post disaster relief programmes on the basis of earthquake damage assessment in SAHAS working areas.
One of the first steps by SAHAS-Nepal is to preliminarily assess its staff safety and offices in affected working districts. There were 157 SAHAS staffs working in 14 districts. After the earthquake, we were able to establish contact with our staff members except Ms. Sunita Tamanga of Rasuwa district and can confirm that 156 SAHAS staffs are safe. SAHAS has already deployed other staffs in search of Ms. Sunita Tamang and her family to get information about their conditions.
Other immediate relief activities to be carried out soon after include the provision of:
Apart from immediate relief response, SAHAS is also planning to conduct early recovery activities such as:
Appeal
If you would like to donate or contribute to our effort, please contact the following:
Surendra K. Shrestha, PhD, Executive Director; s.shrestha@sahasnepal.org.np +977- 9851043864
+977- 9851043864
Saban K. Shrestha, Programme Coordinator; saban@sahasnepal.org.np +977 9851131149+977 9851131149
Somaya Gurung, Admin and Finance Coordinator; somaya@sahasnepal.org.np +977 9841451830+977 9841451830
Sunil Thapa, Environment and Knowledge Management Coordinator; sunil@sahasnepal.org.np +977-9841481602+977-9841481602
