It is months now since the devastating earthquakes which hit the country in April 2015 and there have been over multiple aftershocks since. The tremors come everyday. Today there was a tremor, yesterday there was a tremor – for the locals the earthquake has not stopped. Heavy rains during the monsoon brought additional distress with a number of districts reporting significant mudslides with additional loss of life, followed by a brutal winter.
BNMT focuses our earthquake relief on:
- trauma counseling,
- sanitation,
- medical supplies and primary care clinics
- distribution and relief for affected areas in the form of shelter and supplies.
- reconstruction of health care infrastructure
We support affected communities with trauma counseling and training other organisations to give them the skills necessary to provide similar programmes of care – so extending the access to these services.
Access to safe water and sanitation facilities amongst displaced communities remains a high priority – especially in and around Kathmandu valley with its high population density. We work through the District Public Health Offices in a number of areas with the building of community latrines. Some of this work has been specifically supported by Handle with Care International.
We have been supported very generously by International Health Partners (IHP) with medical supplies – which we have been distributing through the District Public Health offices in affected districts as well as running primary care clinics in some of the remoter areas.
Finally – a big thank you to the Britain Nepal Society. Since the earthquake they have been actively fundraising to support the earthquake relief of two charities – BNMT and the Gurkha Welfare Trust. They held a fundraising event at the Nepal Embassy in London on Friday 12th. His Royal Highness The Duke of Gloucester attended the event and Isabella Tree spoke about The Living Goddess – the stories of the Kumaris of Kathmandu valley.
And our co-Chair and her friends are walking 100km on 17th/18th July in support of the BNMT Earthquake appeal – follow their fundraising progress and donate here.
Jyoti Deula
On 25 April 2015, Jyoti Deula’s life changed forever. Jyoti, who was pregnant with twins, lost her home in Yosinkhel, on the outskirts of Bhaktapur when the big earthquake struck Nepal.
Since then, Jyoti has been living under a tarpaulin which her family shares with five other families. They are among the 245 households camped on the site of Bisket Jatra, where an important festival takes place every year in April (Nepali New Year). The sides of their shelter are open to the elements and when it rains the area floods. The camp water supply is a single tap with a bucket, and there is only one toilet. It is a daily struggle to obtain the basics of life: food, water, and dry clothes and bedding.
On 22 July Jyoti gave birth to twin boys. She worries for their future: she has nowhere
to live and not enough milk to feed them. She requested help in the form of bottled milk, but in this environment giving bottled milk to babies creates significant risk of life-threatening diarrhoeal disease.
BNMT Nepal provided her family with a 12-person tent, along with nutritional support for Jyoti so she can feed her twins properly. The Trust also arranged for four community toilets with a water supply to be built at the camp.
It is a great improvement, but Jyoti looks forward to the day when she can move back into her own home. Include picture
Contributor: Sophie Langran
For more details click below link:
BNMT’s Earthquake Disaster Relief Initiatives