Disaster Response Nepal Project #20333

Nepal Earthquake

by Save the Children Federation

Project Report | Jan 29, 2016
Final Report: No Choice But to Carry On

By Gil Lima | Project Manager

Bikalpa

As the final report for Save the Children's Nepal Earthquake relief fund, we are showcasing one of our many success stories made possible by the many generous donations from donors like you.

One Child's Recovery From the Nepal Earthquake:

In Hindi the name Bikalpa means 'choice,' but when the deadly earthquake struck the Kathmandu region of Nepal in April two year old Bikalpa did not have a choice for how his life would forever change.

It was a normal day for Bikalpa and his family. He was taking a nap while his mother, grandmother, and uncle watched TV in the next room.His father was at work. Then walls started to shake and before they knew it, the roof began to crumble. Bikalpa's grandmother grabbed him and kept him safe.

"I took him in my arms and covered him with my body when the roof started falling," she said. "At the time, I thought I would lose my grandson."

A few hours later Bikalpa's father rescued them from the rubble and rushed them to Patan Hospital in the Kathmandu Valley. With basic treatment and medicine they were able to return home, but Bikalpa was not the same child as he was before the earthquake. He would stare at their demolished house and would say that the ground was shaking. He never left his mother's side and held on to her wherever she went. He was quiet and retreated into himself; unlike most two year olds Bikalpa did not babble or play. Rain scared him and most nights he woke up crying and calling out for his mother. It wasn't until caring professionals at a Save the Children Child Friendly Safe Space helped him cope with the traumatic experience that he could get back to being himself.

"The Child Friendly Safe Space has been a big help for Bikalpa to divert his mind from what he witnessed during the recent earthquake," his grandmother said. "Bikalpa is gradually going back to how he was before the quake."

Along with attending his 'school,' as Bikalpa affectionately calls the Child Friendly Safe Space, his family has also built a temporary shelter with items donated by Save the Children near their crumbled house so they no longer need to share a small, cramped shelter with other families. Their new temporary shelter is the only place besides to Child Friendly Safe Space where Bikalpa feels comfortable and safe. He has started returning to typical two-year-old life; his biggest worries now aren't if the ground is shaking but when he can play soccer, draw, and dance with his friends.

"Bikalpa loves his school and usually is the first child to arrive there," his grandmother said. "He asks me to take him to his school before opening hours, and if he sees local facilitators heading there he follows them."

Save the Children has launched an emergency response in Nepal, to support the worst affected children and families. To date our teams have reached more than 127,000 people, including 76,000 children, with vital aid and have established 61 Child Friendly Safe Spaces in the 10 most affected districts.

Permalink

Dec 31, 2015
Making an Impact, Thanks to You!

By Mary Redmond | Head Writer

Thank You from Save the Children

Your generous support of Save the Children is an investment in childhood. With you as our partner, we develop and expand proven, evidence-based programs that give girls and boys a healthy start, the opportunity to learn and protection from harm. We’re there for children in emergencies, providing child-focused readiness, relief and recovery. And we advocate to ensure issues critical to our children are given top priority. Together, we give children in the United States and around the world the best chance for success, every day and in times of crisis, transforming their lives and the future we all share. Thank you for your support in 2015!

Here are some of the top highlights from 2015

Nepal Earthquake

Together, we’re helping survivors of Nepal’s deadly earthquakes recover and rebuild. Nepal’s powerful earthquakes in April and May toppled hundreds of thousands of homes, schools and health centers and affected 3.2 million children. Thanks to our supporters’ compassionate giving, we’ve reached over 500,000 children and adults with aid, comfort and support. But our work is far from over. We’re focusing on a three-year plan to aid in the recovery. Among many things, we will help rebuild permanent, sturdy schools. We’re going to help train carpenters and masons to make homes and buildings stronger and train more health workers to identify and treat malnourished children. We will be working with local Nepalese organizations to help children and families recover and rebuild their lives.

Journey of Hope

The 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina this year was especially significant for Save the Children. That monster hurricane’s impact on children led us to create the Journey of Hope program, which helps children and teens regain a sense of security and self-esteem after experiencing a crisis. In 2015, Journey of Hope reached children in Texas who endured a flight from brutal violence in Central America. We also began testing Journey of Hope’s ability to help children who experience stress from challenges their families may face, such as deep poverty, growing up in single-parent households, domestic violence and substance abuse. And we began a Journey of Hope pilot to help conflict-affected children in the Ukraine.

Child Refugee Crisis

As exhausted refugee children were on the move this fall across Europe, our staff have been there to help, thanks to our donors. We’ve provided food, water, blankets, baby food and other supplies to children and mothers as they seek safety and asylum in Europe. Our teams have also provided overwhelmed children in train and bus stations with spaces to rest, play and escape from the enormous stress of their journeys. In addition, we are ensuring that once children have arrived at their final destination, their rights are respected and that they have access to essential services.

And as we’ve done for years, we reach children and mothers inside and outside countries in turmoil with lifesaving aid and access to food, health care and education.

Ending Ebola

West Africa tamed the horrifying Ebola outbreak with the help of agencies like Save the Children. In 2015, we helped children, families and communities recover. We prepared schools in Liberia to re-open and upgraded facilities. We are supporting local health systems so that they can resume basic care services and are better prepared for any future disease outbreak.

Because so many children lost everything to Ebola, including their families, our teams in Liberia and Guinea continue to identify orphans and other vulnerable girls and boys and arrange for their care. In Sierra Leone, we’ve created scholarships for children who lost family members and cannot afford school fees.

Thank you again for your support in 2015. If you are planning to make a year-end gift for your taxes, please give by midnight tonight to receive your full 100% deduction for 2015. Donate now

Links:

See the Results of Your Generosity

Permalink

Oct 30, 2015
Nepal 6 Month Report

By Gil Lima | Project Manager

Nepal Eathquake

Six months since the Nepal earthquake, almost a quarter million children are being schooled in classrooms unfit for freezing winter temperatures, warns Save the Children.

The child rights agency can also reveal that one million children have been left without permanent classrooms and another 171,400 children continue to require support to return to learning.

The immediate concern this winter is for children whose education may suffer because they have to endure plummeting sub-zero temperatures in temporary learning centers.

Almost 3,000 temporary learning centers were built quickly after the earthquake in April so that children could continue their education. With winter approaching Save the Children says funding is urgently needed to upgrade the temporary classrooms to protect children from harsh winter weather.

Save the Children's Country Director for Nepal Delailah Borja explains, "We know how important education is to children affected by disaster. Therefore aid agencies quickly built temporary classrooms for thousands of school-aged children in Nepal. However, the slow progress in construction of permanent schools together with the onset of winter, mean that we need to act now to insulate and winterize classrooms. Winterization is imperative to ensure children remain in school and are protected from the weather while at school. Funding is urgently needed for this purpose."

For families in the mountainous and remote regions of Nepal, there is still an urgent requirement for basic food and shelter relief, says Save the Children. There is also a risk of families falling into debt because of the cost of construction of temporary shelters, pushing them into extreme poverty.

Save the Children stressed that urgent action is required to address shelter needs, for the community in general but in particular for those at greatest risk.

"Significant investment is needed to increase the local supply of trained technicians and construction workers to work with communities on safe and resilient construction techniques," said Ms Borja.

"Households at high altitudes, and those people who have been forced to leave their homes and live in camps, are particularly at risk. Such high risk households must be provided with every assistance to ensure that they have adequate shelter for the winter, without needing to take on debts which they cannot possibly repay," added Ms Borja.

Links:

Learn More About Our Work in Nepal

Permalink

1 2 3 ›

About Project Reports

Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.

If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.