In the wake of the earthquake that rocked Nepal and northern India yesterday, major aftershocks continue to terrorize people living in hard-hit areas, and endanger buildings that remain standing.
In and around Kathmandu, telephone lines are down, and water, sanitation, electricity, food, and shelter are in short supply. Many people—afraid to return to their homes—have gathered in the streets for another cold night in the open.
Oxfam is helping government authorities set up camps for people who have been displaced by the quake—settlements where already 30,000 people have gathered. Staff will begin building sanitation facilities at a camp in Bhacktapur (a few miles from Kathmandu) tomorrow.
Oxfam staff in Kathmandu are reaching out to partners and family members living in towns closer to the epicenter of the earthquake, but badly damaged roads are making aid delivery to those communities extremely difficult.
“Our priority is to ensure that people affected have adequate humanitarian assistance, and we are able to prevent secondary disasters—including outbreaks of disease—by providing safe water and critical sanitation support,” says Zubin Zaman, deputy director of Oxfam India. “Hundreds of thousands of displaced people need urgent humanitarian assistance now—including children and women who are forced to be out in the open, huddled in groups with no food, safe water, or shelter.”
While mobilizing staff and partners on the ground in Nepal, Oxfam is also sending a technical team from the UK, along with a shipment of emergency food supplies and the equipment needed to install water and sanitation facilities.
Help rush life-saving aid to earthquake survivors.