Background of the project
A major 5.7 magnitude earthquake struck Jajarkot District, Karnali Province, Nepal on November 3, 2023, at 11:47 p.m. NPT. Approximately 8,000 public and private homes were damaged, resulting in the death and tragic loss of at least 157 people. This disaster is the worst since the devastating earthquake of April 2015. The consequences of this earthquake left the population homeless and in urgent need of vital relief supplies as the winter months began.
The most vulnerable groups in this dire situation were children, the elderly, and women. They suffered from the lack of food, warm clothing and the trauma that came with losing their home and loved ones. To address this urgent need, we proposed a relief initiative to provide warm jackets to approximately 600 children, women, and elderly people in the affected areas. Our partner organization, Dolpo Tulku Charitable Foundation organized the purchase, transport and distribution of relief supplies in collaboration with local volunteers and government officials from Nalgad Municipality. The Human Stiftung (Foundation) was the financial project sponsor.
Goal of the project
Our main goal was to help minimize the primary challenges faced by earthquake-damaged families during the winter by providing warm clothing for the most vulnerable groups. What criteria were used to select the recipients?
- Families who lost their homes, food supplies, clothing, etc. in the houses destroyed by the quake.
- Families whose houses were partially destroyed by the earthquake and who were forced to live in tents.
- Families whose houses were not safe to live in due to the high risk of collapse.
Implementation
The HUMAN-Stiftung (Foundation) was the project sponsor and financed all provided materials and transport. Our project partner, the Dolpo Tulku Charitable Foundation, bought all the winter jackets and beanie caps in Kathmandu and organized and accompanied the transport to the villages. The distribution to the population was carried out together with the local government authority.
All jackets and caps were distributed to students of two schools (Shree Saraswati Primary School and Shree Surya Kiran Primary School) and to the villagers within four days. There was also some rain in between, which made the task a little more difficult.
Finally, the team conducted follow-up checks to ensure supplies were being used properly.
The local people were very grateful for the short-term support, even though the big burden of rebuilding their homes after the winter still lies before the people affected. Not to mention the many deaths and the pain of those left behind.