On 25 April and 12 May 2015, Nepal was struck by two deadly earthquakes that killed 8,856 people, injured 22,309 people and damaged or destroyed more than 800,000 houses.
One year on from the disaster, an estimated four million people are still living in sub-standard temporary shelters in conditions that pose a threat to their health and well-being. Shelter remains a priority, but despite achievements in many areas of earthquake recovery efforts, little progress has so far been made in helping survivors to rebuild permanent homes.
In the rural hills of Kathmandu district, Roshani Ghimire's family of four lost their house, farming tools and seeds in the earthquake. They moved into a plastic tunnel previously used as a greenhouse.
"It's hot in summer and cold in winter. We perspire a lot during summer under the corrugated iron sheets. The children fall sick more often."
- Rishiram Ghimire, Nepal
Reinforced with corrugated iron and bamboo, their plastic tunnel home is far from ideal, says her husband, Rishiram Ghimire.
He is keen to rebuild their stone and wooden house, but is not sure if the family will receive help to buy materials.
“If the local government doesn't give us money, then we will live in the temporary shelter like this and use plywood as the ceiling so we can control the heat and cold, and we won’t be afraid of the house collapsing on us if there is another earthquake.”
"Living under plastic sheeting was never intended as a permanent solution. Our aim is to restore the dignity of survivors who have endured massive personal loss. To do this, they need to be reassured that they will have the security of a real home in the near future."
- Dev Ratna Dhakwa, Secretary General of the
Nepal Red Cross Society
In the months after the earthquake, the Nepal Red Cross Society, supported by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) gave more than 130,000 families emergency shelter including, tents and tarpaulins.
In recent months local stone masons, carpenters and community members have been trained in earthquake-resistant building techniques and will soon be ready to support families to start rebuilding their homes. The training not only helps people build back better and stronger homes, it also gives them valuable job skills for the huge task of reconstruction ahead.
"It would have been very difficult for us had the Red Cross not helped us at that time. We would have had to look for loans. We could at least buy seeds and plant them. Then we were able to sell that crop and buy more seeds."
- Roshani Ghimire, Nepal
The earthquakes hit the financial security of Nepal's marginalised farmers in numerous ways. Many faced the immediate challenge of creating a temporary shelter on top of finding ways to replace lost food, seeds, tools and livestock. With little time or money to spare, some concentrated on growing vegetables to feed their families, rather than raising cash crops.
As part of a livelihoods programme supported by the Nepal Red Cross, the Ghimire family received a cash grant of 5,000 Nepali rupees (about 50 Swiss francs or US dollars) to buy farming tools and seeds.
Now, a year after the earthquake, the first shoots of hope and recovery are evident on the hills around the Kathmandu valley.
"Without the grant I would have just sown wheat, which requires little care but is less valuable than the vegetables I now have. I'm now going to get a better income."
- Amrit Silwal, Lalitpur, Nepal
In Lalitpur, Amrit Silwal, 36, used his grant to employ neighbours to work alongside him. He bought fertilizer, and added cucumber, coriander, radish and cauliflower to his regular plantings of rice, wheat and potato.
"In the coming months, the Red Cross will build on a more integrated, community-based approach to support people's recovery."
- Mike Higginson, Programme Coordinator
for the Nepal Country Office for the IFRC.
In the past year, the Red Cross distributed 95,000 cash grants to help families meet their immediate needs. Assessments show that families like those in Tanahun district used their cash to buy building materials or food, or to repay loans on things they bought after the earthquake. Last winter, the cash grants allowed families in the remote, mountainous village of Lachyang to purchase winter clothes and blankets to cope with the cold.
“We look at a family unit and a community as a complex entity. We not only focus on people's housing needs but also their ability to protect their assets and grow them so they have a more secure future," says Mike Higginson. "While a family is in a temporary shelter, we want them to keep earning an income. If they don’t have access to their old vocation, we are looking at other ways to help them.”
"When we heard the project was confirmed, we felt like someone who gets a glass of water when they are very thirsty."
- Chandra Prasad Shatyal, member of Lagarche health post committee.
In the village of Lagarche, Sindhupalchowk district, the earthquake took the lives of 26 villagers and also damaged the local health post. The clinic was critical to the health and well-being of the village's 3,500 residents. It was a 24-hour birthing facility, offered outpatient, immunization and family planning programmes and a myriad of other basic yet essential health services needed by this isolated community.
In July 2016 the Nepal Red Cross announced it would work with the community to replace the facility. Lagarche is one of 28 earthquake-affected communities where the Red Cross is partnering to rehabilitate and equip health facilities. A permanent hospital in Dhunche (Rasuwa district) will also be built to provide essential health services until the government can build a permanent structure. As well as fully equipping these health facilities, staff will also receive training in community-based first aid, trauma care, anaesthesia, maternal and new born care, clinical skills, epidemic control and psychosocial support.
Communities try their best to restore water supply schemes but it is not possible for all of them to do it on their own. They need external assistance."
- Kaustubh Kukde, IFRC Water and Sanitation Delegate.
"Water is an essential part of the equation," says Kaustubh Kukde, IFRC Water and Sanitation Delegate.
“The earthquake affected water supply systems because of landslides or the water sources drying or reducing and broken pipelines. The government has been helping and the Red Cross is joining efforts to restore basic infrastructure. In one community I visited, the water source has completely dried up so people are spending two to three hours a day just to fetch water. That reduces the time they could have spent on farming or earning a living."
In 2016-2017, the Red Cross will continue to work on five priority areas to support the recovery of earthquake affected communities; Shelter, health, livelihoods, improving water, sanitation and hygiene practices. The goal is to build healthier and more resilient communities that are better prepared to face disasters.
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