By Sadhana Shrestha | Executive Director
Nepal was in the midst of finalizing the draft constitution when the 7.8 Richter scale earthquake with its epicenter in Barpak/Gorkha, hit Nepal on 25th April 2015. 7.3 Richter scale earthquake on 12th May with its epicenter in Dolakha, Sindhupalchowk and the many aftershocks, took almost 9000 lives (above 55% women), injured above 22,000 people, and over 500,000 homes are rendered unusable. World heritage sites, most of the schools, hospitals, and official infrastructures in the affected districts are also unsafe for use. So far almost 400 aftershocks of above 4 Richter scale has not fully allowed lives to return to normalcy. The agility and speed with which Nepali youths, organizations, and the world community responded to save, salvage, and support has been remarkable. Likewise the resilience, stoic attitude, and self-help of the Nepalis deserve accolades.
Soon after the earthquake Tewa and Nagarik Awaaz(NA) who have the same founder met separately with their teams to consult, put personal fear/trauma aside, and agree that they needed to go promptly on relief outreaches. Tewa/NA began their relief operations from the 30th April. They decided to work jointly and have a joint Earthquake Relief Fund (ERF). They began by using the funds they had, and luckily funds began to pour into the ERF with trust and speed. Early on it was agreed that an ERF Committee would be put in place with three external members for making major decisions and for transparency. Besides an internal "code of conduct" policy was put in place to guide the relief approach.
During the initial 70 days of intense relief operations Tewa/NA reached 116 communities in 15 affected districts. In over 90% of these outreaches, this according to them was the first relief support that the community people had received. Tewa/NA distributed cash unless it was requested otherwise. Some of the requests specifically came for food, tarpaulins or corrugated sheets. All the relief outreach ensured the special needs of special interest groups e.g. women, elderly, children, differently abled, excluded groups, pregnant or lactating mothers. During the relief outreach covering 116 communities in 15 districts, Tewa/NA gave off a little over US $500,000 within the first 60 days. In doing this some 25,000 households were reached and some 7000 postnatal/pregnant women, elderly and children were supported directly. Besides Tewa/NA reached out to all the 46 grantees and NA Sahakarya Shantiko partners (some 31 others said they had enough support since others had reached out to them) in the affected districts who needed relief support. Noteworthy in these initiatives, is the amount of about US $ 2000 gifted back to us by the affected community people who received our support. But more important than the amount, is the very important outcome that even in the worst of disasters, the survivors are eager to contribute to larger good, and do their bits. This is one of the most profound outcomes.
Beyond our own limitations, Tewa/NA also worked through partners whose outreach was beyond our capacity or expertise e.g. Nepal Share for helicopter drops to the most remote locations; supporting hospitals so they could manage and cope with the overflow of patients after the disaster; other trusted partners through whom we could expand our coverage.
Some of the other achievements are as follows:
Dal Maya Bastakoti's friend and mentor, Meera Devkota (76 years), Chair of the Mother's Group of Masel VDC in Gorkha District died as her 3 storied home collapsed while she was locking her door to go out together with Dhal Maya. Dhal Maya is emotional and speechless today. Meera was well known and respected for her leadership. As Tewa took care packages for the 10 pregnant and post-natal care mothers and corrugated sheets for the 115 families, whose homes were destroyed by the earthquake, the Tewa/NA team, were welcomed with great hospitality, gratitude, and humility. Although there was no distribution of cash during this relief outreach in Masel VDC, yet when Srijana, Programme Officer/Tewa shared how we have built philanthropy into our relief work, the local Mothers Group contributed an astounding sum of Rs 10,000 (US $ 1000) to the fund!
We would like to thank all our donors and supporters nationally and internationally who helped us reach out to survivors, immediately and efficiently. Our work in recovery and rebuilding lives still continues and would appreciate any funds that can be given to Tewa and Nagarik Awaaz to reach out to communities that have been affected by the earthquake.
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