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  .