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THE INTREGRATED RELIEF EARTHQUAKE PROJECT: The Nepal Earthquake Relief Program Setting-‐up the Program After the 3rd day of the Megha earthquake, the CEO of NSSW (Nepal School of Social Work) called a meeting on 28th April with the students at the college to mobilize the immediate relief for the survivors. The meeting was held at college with 3 students, Himshikar, Sujuta, Raj Yonjan, Elson, Bisna, Anu, Bikal and faculty members Ms Shivani Saria and Dil Kumar Thakuri in attendance. The team agreed to mobilize themselves to offer immediate relief to those who were still not getting help. NSSW has had a social work camp in each year of its Bachelor of Social work program (BSW) where students live in community neighborhoods in rural areas for 5-‐10 days. The camp is designed to: observe and learn about the social structure of the communities; and practice social action including community organization, promote an awareness program that covered the creation of child-‐friendly schools, ending domestic violence and gender inequality, and co-‐coordinating activities with various actors and stakeholders within the communities. This model has the strength of students living within the community, building rapport and positive relationships with the service users/aid recipients while helping them. NSSW decided to utilize this same model of intervention for the earthquake relief program. The project area was selected on the basis of the inability ofthe Government’s relief effort to reach remote villages and NSSW’s experience of conducting neighborhood camps in Sipapokhare earlier as a part of its normal academic program.
Project Intervention areas in Sipapokhare are shaded in grey
Project Objective:
• Immediate relief to the survivors
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NSSW &Aaroh conducting primary assessment of Sindupalchowk: 30 April (after 6th days of earthquake) Area:
VDC :Sipapokhare TOTAL NO.OF WARDS = 9
The primary survey conducted shows the following number of households hadhomes that collapsed within the 9 wards of the Village.
WARD NO NO OF FAMILIES/HOUSES 1 137 2 180 3 59 4 70 5 88 6 43 7 100 8 118 9 128
Total 913
Collapsed house at Sipapohare Students of NSSW getting supplies ready
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Collection of Supplies. Having obtained the information that identified the immediate needs of the villagersasfood and shelter, the relief team decided to buy rice and lentils which would be the easiest to cook. These ingredients also form the main meal of Nepalese people. The program was designed to supply this basic grain for 5 days at the rate of 5 kg of rice and 2 kg of lentils per family. As NSSW has to raise funds to buy these supplies, Dr. Bala Raju Nikku from Malaysia and Pradipta Kadambari from Nepal, began to write to our friendsand well-‐wishers to secure thefundsnecessary for NSSW to conduct this program. Professor Lena Dominelli responded quickly and provided the Humanitarian Aid Manualand Toolkit,Ethical Guidelines and set up the Nepal Virtual Helpline to assist in the needs assessments. Another immediate response came from Dr. Sharvari and Dr. Lindsay who opened a fund-‐raising account for NSSW in the USA. This act motivated the team to buy the goods on credit and mobilize delivery in the field. Beside this, Aaroh, a field work partner also joined hands with NSSW, providing volunteers and a few funds of their own. After two days, another organization, Galkot Samaj Japan, the Mahatma Gandi Memorial Foundation, Jhapa Marwadi Samaj, and the Vishal Group also came into the program with supplies of mattresses, tarpaulin sheets for shelter, soap, blankets, bedsheets and toothpaste and toothbrushes.
Co-‐ordination meeting at NSSW with organization willing to work together. Different organizations working in collaboration
We are providing each village household with the following items
I. Tent II. Mattress III. Blanket IV. Groceries (rice, lentils, biscuits) V. Others: (toothpaste, toothbrushes, soap, mosquito repellent)
Photos: Packing of the relief materials and their distribution.
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Operations:
i. Gathering resources enough for 3 days for distribution to each ward cluster. By having 3 to 4 distributions, the program will cover all 913 households (approx 7000people).
ii. Set up base camp. The idea of setting a base camp for 7-‐10 days and working in community is so that social workers/aid workers can build rapport with the community, build relationships and gain trust so that the appropriate help/services can be delivered, understand their expectations, identify their strengths and mobilize community members in the relief program.
iii. Survey: A survey was carried out in all 9 wardsthrough home visits to find out the number of families affected, the earthquake’seffect on these families and the condition of their houses. This data can become useful for a long term rehabilitation program too.
iv. This approach enabled the team to obtain real scenarios and know about their pertinent needs quickly.
v. Distribution: A token was provided to all household with their code number on it. The distribution endeavors were carried out for a cluster of households and covered few wards in different days.
Ms Shivani Saria, a faculty member at base camp writes: ‘After conducting the needs assessment we came to realise that not only a certain number of households, but in fact the whole community, required relief. Since we are working in collaboration with many organizations, we are generating and accumulating supplies. We are still looking and appealing for other sources of supplies and provisions to cover and cater for approximately 1000 households which include 9 wards with an average of 100-‐105 houses in each ward.’ This effort has been made possible by combining the members of the teams in different organizations working together to utilize the strengths of various organizations, people and affected communities, and thus have the maximum impact. The main idea of covering these 1000 households was to cover the whole area where the whole VDC can get equal access to relief which will mean that the relief campaign will cover the whole of the VDC. Pradipta Kadambari after the field visit on the 7th day writes: ‘The camp model has been very effective in building relationships with the communities. There were 10 children from Ward Number 5 who were helping our team in packing the relief supplies. They were very cheerful while they worked and at the same time were cracking jokes and singing. One, a boy around 12 years of age, came to me and asked why the earthquake took place and why it was still continuing with the aftershock tremors. As I explained to him very simply why it happened and why it was less strong now, a sign of relief appeared in his expression. I have found that the camp not only provided the relief supplies but also brought a joyful environment to the children and this was helping themby diffusing the trauma of the earthquake and its aftermath. Primary assessment and recommendations: After the 1stphase of intervention, the further recommendations for the recovery process are as follows:
1. Sanitation: toilets are urgently needed for the people because along with the homes, the toilets havealso collapsed. The need now is to build one community toilet for every 3 to 4 houses.
2. Restoration of schoolsand the school environment: All schools in the 9 wards except for one have collapsed. Replacing these is an urgent matter.
3. Psychosocial counseling: Children in Sindhupalchowk now need to know why these tremors have occurred and how they can deal with them. One parent of a child who is 10 years old said that their son was terrified so much that they initially thought of taking him to a doctor. He was screaming in the sleep and trying to run. Though he now looks fine, he seems to be having lots of questionsinside him.
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4. Vaccination from diseases: The lack of toilet and the debris of the collapsed houses can bring disease and lead to health epidemics. Children are the most venerable among the survivors who if receive typhoid, tetanus and hepatitis vaccinations would be able to safeguard their health.
Partner Organizations
1. Nepal School of Social Work 2. AAROAH “A Rise of Hope” 3. Manav Sewa Trust 4. Mahatma Ghandi Memorial Foundation 5. Galkot Samaj Japan 6. Jhapamarva diSamaj 7. Vishal Group
end of Primary Report 2 .
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