Monday, April 25, marks 12 months since a huge earthquake hit Nepal. As the earth shook and buildings turned to dust, more than 9,000 people lost their lives and thousands more were injured.
More than 8 million people were affected in some way – homes and businesses were destroyed, schools and hospitals were damaged and fields of crops disappeared.
Within hours, we started working with our local women’s and youth networks in Nepal to get help to the people who needed it most. They told us what people needed the most, and we delivered food, blankets, tarpaulins, and health kits that they made sure reached the most vulnerable people in their communities.
In total we reached 118,000 people, providing a range of emergency supplies and trauma support so that people in Nepal had what they needed in the days following the devastating earthquake and to start rebuilding their lives.
Puja Maharjan (above), a new mom, moved into a semi-permanent shelter 6 months after Nepal’s devastating earthquake. Photo: Kishor K. Sharma/ActionAid
In the months that followed, we provided building materials so that moms like Puja could move out of the temporary tents where they’d been living and into semi-permanent shelters.
We’ve also provided a helping hand to people like Laxmi, as she worked to restore her income after the quake.
Laxmi and her family lost all of their livestock in the earthquake. Her goats and buffalo provided a low, but stable income for the family.
Laxmi Thapa Aryal (left) in the mushroom farm that she has set up with support from ActionAid. Photo: Jo Harrison/ActionAid
Immediately after the earthquake, ActionAid gave Laxmi tarpaulins, blankets, some cash and the materials needed to construct a stable but temporary home that they can live in for up to two years.
But we also worked with Laxmi and other women in her village to set up a mushroom farm that is now providing an income for 10 women.
Malati Maskey from ActionAid Nepal surveys the earthquake damage in Khokhana. Photo: Vlad Sokhin/ActionAid
The road to recovery for Nepal will be a long one but we’re committed to supporting communities as they rebuild their lives.
Our long-term recovery effort will focus on ensuring women’s safety and dignity, by combatting gender-based violence and making sure they have access to public services, education and land to live and farm on.
We’ll continue to work with them to construct weather proof housing so that they can move out of temporary shelters, and we’ll provide job training for adults so that they can build sustainable incomes.
We’ll also continue to support people in Nepal to get their voices heard so that their government provides what they need to build a safer and more sustainable future for themselves and their families.
