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A hundred days have passed since the country witnessed a devastating earthquake of 7.8 magnitude. In the afternoon of April 25 lives of numerous Nepalis changed. Over 8,700 people died while many are still unaccounted for. Over 20,000 people have sustained injuries among which many require long-term rehabilitation. On May 12, a strong aftershock of 6.8 magnitude hit the country causing more damage. As strong aftershocks continue to jolt the nation, people are still struggling to get back to normal life and meet their basic necessities. Rebuilding and resettlement has become a major concern for many.

HERD, on April 27 made an appeal through its social media sites for ‘Pledge for Public Health Action’ and coordinated with the volunteers with the support HERD staff and began relief campaigns. The team began exploring affected areas for relief distribution and started collecting materials.

An ‘Emergency Earthquake Communications Desk’ was established in the ground floor of HERD office. A fund raising initiative; Helping Hands for Humanity was developed in our website with the slogan, “Every dollar raised on relief, community gets 100 percent”. HERD management decided that whatever amount of money comes to the fund, all goes to the needy people and all management costs (transportation, logistics, food for the volunteers and the staff) will be borne by HERD. From April 30, daily media monitoring of earthquake related news was initiated for a period of one month. A summary report of the media monitoring has also been prepared.

The relief operation began from May 2 one week after the disaster. It was carried out in coordination with the District Administration Office, Village Development Committee, District Health Officials, Nepal Army as well as local leaders. Basic health facilities were provided by trained health professionals in various places. Other organisations such as UNICEF, UNFPA, DFID, PSI, FNCCI (Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industry) among others also provided us relief materials. The relief operation was carried out at Jhangajhiti, Shankharapur, Lapsiphedi-Sankhu, Bimire-Kavre, Thuladurlung-Lalitpur, Devitar-Kavre, Dhusa-Dhading and Gairibisauna Deupur - Kavre. Through our relief efforts, we reached close to 1800 households and served about 9000 needy people.

With the support of Ministry of Education and UNICEF, HERD also conducted Rapid Structural (Technical) School Assessment in 11 of the 14 highly affected districts (excluding Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Lalitpur). The assessment was done using the green or the red flag to assess whether the schools are safe or unsafe to be used for teaching-learning purposes.

HERD’s media monitoring team also conducted an observation visit to different areas of Kathmandu – observing the displaced settlements and emergency health services provided by hospitals. HERD team also provided its technical support to Ministry of Health and Population by deploying 2 public health officers for information collection to develop Health Emergency Operation Centre (HEOC). The HEOC produced a comprehensive Situation Update on a daily basis for 2 months.

HERD officials have been actively involved in various relief activities. Here is what they had to say recalling back the dreadful 100 days:

Dr. Sushil Baral – Executive Chairperson

The devastating earthquake not only tested our emotional resilience but also tested our strengths on handling emergency situations. As an immediate response to the disaster, the government led the relief efforts. The non-state sector namely the civil society organisations, the private agencies and development partners also contributed to the response but the efforts should have been a consolidated response.

During the early days of the response, the relief activities were conducted based on desperate need. Somehow the response was managed, but we could have done better to meet the expectations of the real needy. The Post Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) though gave a preliminary picture of the extent of damage and provided some base to inform the reconstruction efforts, the credibility of the assessment also needs to be reviewed thoroughly before solely relying on one source of information to design our next rebuilding strategies.

Regarding the health sector response, we are in a desperate need to implement the health sector recovery plan. The Constitution of Nepal has safeguarded health as a fundamental right of citizens and therefore, government should consider providing basic health services to the affected people as its top most priority. Health service delivery institutions have been heavily damaged and been non-functional so immediate action is required in terms of adequate resource allocation to resume essential health care services. Efforts from several development agencies are really commendable. However, a consolidated health sector recovery plan is a need of the hour as there are several efforts from the government and non-government sector.

Health workers have been the real heroes at this difficult time. They have been risking their lives and serving the needy with limited resources, being less concerned about their own lives and whereabouts of their families. Special programmes should be initiated in order to award and motivate these health workers to create conducive environment for them to work with the same spirit in the coming days as well.

As a civil society organisation, HERD is fully committed to join hands with the government, supporting in government’s rebuilding efforts at this hour of dire need.

Rekha Khatri – Senior Qualitative Research Officer

It has been very distressing. It all happened in the beginning of the year it was like going bad to a non-pleasant day. I was away when the disaster took place. Personally, when I saw the disaster on news, it was like an era ended. But when I came back to Kathmandu, I realised it wasn’t as bad as it was shown. Our country has been pushed behind as there was no preparedness. When I returned, HERD had already begun relief operations so I participated in it. It took quite some time to get back to normal life. Yes, we all have been affected by it someway but there are numerous people whose life has changed. Still numerous people are living under the tents; landslide has started occurring which has affected them even more. It is heart breaking seeing places like Sindhupalchowk and Dolakha losing its identity. 

I feel that the people who haven’t had infrastructural or personal damage, their knowledge have started fading. They have stopped thinking about the preventive measures. The government did respond to this crisis but the response could have been better. It is high time that we move forward in our rebuilding efforts focusing on sustainability of rebuilding efforts.

Hom Nath Subedi – Programme Manager

When the earthquake occurred, I was out of valley, I didn’t feel the earthquake. When I heard about it, I was worried for my family and colleagues. After several attempts, I contacted with the family and some colleagues, it was a relief hearing that they are safe. The people were terrorised and some of the information was exaggerated by various media agencies as well which created fear among people.

We completed field work of our project and then returned to Kathmandu. Preparations for relief work were underway at HERD and we are glad we reached places where there was actual need of relief materials. Personally, I was happy we did something because it would not have been possible if I had attempted it individually. It also gave a message that the organisation can work on the humanitarian ground as well.

Now we should be prepared and stay cautious as disaster is a natural phenomenon and it can occur anytime. If we can create emergency fund in any organisation it will be very useful. A communication tree should also be developed so that we can stay in touch with everyone. We should be alert on an individual level.

We cannot expect much from the government. If the government could create a high level, regional level and local level committee and provide funds according to the risk of disaster, it can help a lot. In the past 100 days, a massive amount has been spent, now the government should review at all levels, whether the support has reached the real needy of the affected areas or not.