Earthquake and disaster risk reduction in Nepal

Margaret Lally, trustee of PHASE Worldwide, recently visted Nepal. Whilst there she visited PHASE Nepal’s office and met some of its staff. She writes:

”The amount of devastation in the villages that PHASE Nepal works in is simply terrible, with some areas having nearly had all the houses destroyed; most schools have also been badly damaged as have our health posts. Thousands are living under canvas and the onset of the monsoons makes their situation yet more difficult.

PHASE Nepal has responded fantastically to the disaster. Its office is a hub of activity with a number of staff working seven days a week to get much needed assistance out to beneficiaries. Many PHASE personnel will themselves have lost family and homes in the Nepal earthquake. I remember one individual who had lost both parents talking about the impact of that tragedy on him – he simply said that he could not think about that now – he had to help his people.

Funds raised by PHASE Worldwide were used directly after the earthquake primarily to evacuate our staff from earthquake areas, and put in place what was required to enable services to continue to operate e.g. replacing staff where necessary and funding additional staff costs, providing extra medical supplies, and temporary accommodation and food for staff working in the affected areas. Apart from the funds raised by PHASE Worldwide, PHASE Nepal is has also been successful in getting two large grants from Diakonie (E957 251) and Caritas Austria (E876 070) to distribute emergency relief items in Gorka and Sindahupalok to over 8000 households. This has necessitated that PHASE Nepal massively increase and diversify its operations in little more than a month, demonstrating the increasing respect that the organisation has both within Nepal and internationally.

The scale of the operation is huge, requiring the procurement, storing, transportation and distribution of thousands of items – all of which have to be recorded. Relief items include food, tents, hygiene kits and essential medical supplies. Now that the monsoon has started, a key priority is getting out CGIs (corrugated galvanised iron sheets) and tool kits to provide more robust shelter. Distribution has also included approximately 100 large tents from Caritas which have provided temporary accommodation for schools so that, despite the devastation, education is still continuing. I met one school master whose school (of over 1000 pupils and 25 teachers) is now under canvas. PHASE Worldwide funding has been really valuable in filling the gaps in this provision, particularly in providing additional CGIs where required, including when requested for schools or other public buildings. This flexibility has enabled PHASE Nepal to continue to improve its relationship with local government officials.

Transport and distribution is a real challenge. Procuring and getting large items to isolated parts of Gorka is difficult at the best of times. It has been made substantially more difficult by the possibility of landsides created by monsoon rains on already weakened structures. On at least one trip PHASE staff had to clear roadblocks with their bare hands to get items to the beneficiaries. There is also the time-consuming need to coordinate with other agencies. As with any international disaster there are lots of national and international agencies involved. I counted at least 50 lead agencies delivering CGIs in Sindahupalok alone.

Whilst I was there, I helped with distribution of materials. The local mobilisers, supported by other PHASE personnel, do an amazing job of explaining to the villagers what is being delivered and when. Access to items is organised via a government ID card which confirms that the individual’s property was destroyed by the earthquake. Inevitably there have been delays in distributing these cards leading to some frustration. The mobilisers have to verify these details before relief items are handed over – quite a challenging role! The patience and stoicism of individuals who have lost everything was humbling. They were keen to know what they were getting next and when but made no complaints about having to wait or what was provided.

Distribution will continue for at least the next six weeks. Whilst doing this herculean task, PHASE Nepal is still providing services from its healthcare posts and delivering on its education and livelihood projects. For example, training of 50 teachers is being planned for September, and 245 women have just completed the adult literacy course with a further course now started. At some point PHASE Nepal will need to think about what it must do next to help people try to rebuild their lives. For now, however, the race is on to ensure that people get the immediate relief that they so desperately need.”

Links:

• Find out more about PHASE's work following the earthquakes