Post-Earthquake Disaster Recovery in Nepal

Two Years After Massive Earthquakes Hit Nepal Women Have New Opportunities

Two years ago today a masstive earthquake struck Nepal. The quake, which killed more than 8,000 people and destroyed homes, infrastructure, and livelihoods, was followed by a major aftershock on May 12. Both caused widespread damage. 

PWA responded immediately and also established partnerships with Nepalese NGOs to work in recovery. With partner SABAH Nepal PWA built three community centers where women are reestablishing their lives.

"Women were the worst affected..."

“After the earthquake the situation of the village...deteriorated so much. Many people just stopped working. They left the farms barren. The cattle began to die. Women were the worst affected as they had to take care of the children and the family. We didn’t get any support from the government. We lost hope, we didn’t know what to do. Even after a year we haven’t been able to completely recover from the trauma of the disaster.”

               ---Sumitra Baniya, a single woman supporting her father and uncle

PWA and SABAH Nepal Build Three Community Centers

Business, temples, homes, and roads were destroyed. Women needed a place to work and a way to grow their skills. Three community centers in Bhaktapur and Kavrepalanchok provide space for psychosocial and economic recovery through skill building, training, and new technologies. See our previous report for more info on the community center in Bhaktapur.

Nala Commmunity Center

The community center in Nala, Kavrepalanchowk has been operational since August 2016.  Almost all of the women there grow green vegetables, but much of their profits go to middlemen who sell the produce in Kathmandu. In October the women decided to use the community center as a center for food processing, with a special focus on fresh vegetable collection and packaging. The women from this area now supply fresh vegetable for the use of The Village Café, an enterprise owned by SABAH Nepal. Recently, a group of twenty women were trained in the production of candies made from a common sour fruit called lapsi. (See that video on our website.)

Khawa Community Center

The center in Khawa recently decided to use the community center for food processing with special focus on dairy products, as most of the women raise cattle. Currently they are selling milk to the collection center which does not yield much profit. PWA helped this cetner find additional funding to provide additional job-training in post-harvest food processing. This funding will also provide the necessary technology and equipment so that they can establish a community-owned food processing enterprise. Greater skills and technologies will allow the women to bypass the middlemen and achieve higher rates for their products. Off-farm activities will diversify their skills and make the community more resilient.

With Gratitude for Your Support, PWA is Closing Down Nepal Recovery Projects

PWA's recovery projects are now complete. PWA will continue to monitor project outcomes, posting updates to our blog. If you'd like to receive email updates about further project outcomes please join our mailing list. 

Your support made our response in Nepal possible. Thank you for all of your support to help Nepal recover.

Links:

• Join PWA's mailing list for future updates
• Watch the lapsi candy-making video

Peace Winds celebrates the inauguration of the Uttisghari Drinking Water Supply Project (DWSP) with partner Rural Reconstruction Nepal. After months of hard work, RRN Executive Director Mr. Gyan Bdr Adhiakri inaugurated the DWSP with the community and representatives of the Government of Nepal.

The project benefits 3,800 people including children and women in the mountainous rural community, who were in immense need of quality water.  After the 2015 quakes destroyed water supplies, people were forced to drink from unclean rivers and streams.

The newly built DWSP holds 3000 liters and can refill at a rate of 0.5 liters per second. Six tap stands like the one below give easy access to water to all the community members.  Peace Winds implemented a safe sanitation and good hygiene practices program with the completion of the project and from the photos, the children have taken to it.

With a clean water supply, life in rural Ramechaap is much easier. Water collection is a difficult chore for women and girls. These new water systems not only increase the general health of the community with safe water sources, but also give women and girls more time for school and family. Peace Winds is proud to report the community is very happy with the new taps and is using them for drinking, bathing, washing, and many daily necessities.