Maya Tamang steps out of the door of her home on the steep slopes of her Nepali village and greets one of her neighbors. Bharat Bishwakarma has come to Maya’s veranda to get water from the plastic bucket and water filter located there. They chat politely as Bharat waits for his water bottles to fill.

Six months ago, neither of them would have imagined this moment happening.

On April 25, Christians in Nepal were wrapping up their weekly church services and people of other faiths were busy at work in their fields or businesses when a massive earthquake struck just before noon. Just a few days later, a second severe earthquake hit the same region.

As a result of these disasters, more than 9,000 people died and 22,000 were injured. In addition, 600,000 homes were destroyed and an additional 290,000 homes were damaged. Roads, schools, businesses, health clinics, farm fields, water sources and other infrastructure were damaged or destroyed. Families like Maya’s did not know how they would recover.

Individuals and churches across the United States and Canada heard about these needs and responded generously, giving more than $2.1 million towards World Renew’s earthquake response. World Renew leveraged these donations through its memberships and associations to raise an additional $450,000. 

It has since carried out six months of disaster response efforts that include:

  • Providing an initial distribution of food and tarps to 1,942 families in five districts
  • Providing an additional two week supply of rice, lentils, oil, salt and nutrila (soybean-based product) to 1,325 families
  • Providing plastic buckets, soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes, towels, feminine products, laundry soap, comb, and oral rehydration tablets to 1,325 families
  • Distributing tarps and rope to 1,325 households
  • Providing blankets to 1,790 families (1-4 blankets per household)
  • Distributing 1,790 temporary shelter kits consisting of 16 sheets of corrugated galvanized iron sheets, claw hammer, tie wire, and nails
  • Supporting the health of 69 children through 10 child clubs and hygiene camps
  • Completing a technical survey of water sources in four wards to determine which drinking water sources had been damaged and need to be repaired
  • Training Female Community Health Volunteers on Psychological First Aid (PFA) so that they are better able to recognize trauma. Identified cases were then counseled by Community Psycho Social Workers and four people were referred to Kathmandu for additional treatment.

It also included providing 300 water filters like the one on Maya’s veranda. The filters are capable of removing 99.9% of bacteria and protozoa from drinking water and can each filter 900 to 1,200 liters of water per day.  With proper maintenance, the filters can last for decades.

World Renew worked through established community health volunteers to provide training in how to use and maintain the water filters.  They also explained why the filters were important to people’s health.

Following the training, community leaders and the health volunteers divided their villages into groups of four to six families who lived near each other. Each of these groups received one water filter from World Renew to share between them.

Originally, the water filter on Maya’s veranda was located at Bharat’s home. However, Bharat is from a lower caste and was concerned that people might not feel comfortable coming to his home to get water.  As a lower caste family, they are considered “untouchable” and tend to stay separate from families of other castes.

Today, families of all castes are welcome to come get water at Maya’s veranda. It is just one example of how communities are building back better after this disaster. 

To learn more about World Renew’s Nepal earthquake response, read the six month update.  Please also continue to keep this ministry in your prayers.  

 

This is the last of a series of stories marking the six-month anniversary of the devasting earthquake that hit Nepal on April 25, 2015.
Find the first story of this series here, the second story here,  and the third story can be found here.