Thanks to your support, Oxfam has provided more than 100,000 earthquake survivors with essentials like clean water and emergency shelter.
As the people of Nepal recover from two devastating earthquakes in less than a month, Oxfam is distributing essential aid—including clean water, emergency shelter, latrines, hygiene kits, and food, as well as seeds and animal feed for farmers.
Thanks to your support, this aid is reaching people in seven of the hardest-hit districts of Nepal, both in the Kathmandu Valley and in rural areas. As of this week, Oxfam and our local partner organizations have reached more than 100,000 people, with a goal of providing 400,000 earthquake survivors with aid.
Latest Oxfam shapshot: So far we've helped over 100,000 people. Thank you to everyone who donated #NepalEarthquake pic.twitter.com/bvB1TKWEbo
— Oxfam International (@Oxfam) May 19, 2015
In Kathmandu Valley alone, we have provided more than 17,000 people with clean water and installed almost 300 latrines. We’ve distributed 3,300 hygiene kits and more than 600 tarpaulins to families living in camps and informal settlements. The hygiene kits come in buckets that can be used to hold clean water, and include essential items--like cups, oral rehydration salts, soap, and towels--to help kids and adults stay healthy.
Getting aid to some of the hardest-hit rural areas has not been easy. “Many villages in Nepal are hard to reach in normal times. Two earthquakes, landslides and damaged roads don't help,” Oxfam’s Kai Tabacek tweeted recently.
To make sure aid reached people quickly, Oxfam brought in some relief items by truck via India. In places where the trucks cannot reach, aid supplies like hygiene kits are being carried up steep slopes on foot.
These guys know the area and will carry the hygiene kits the rest of the way to Laprak - three hours away #Nepal pic.twitter.com/5MmdBrNKNm
— Oxfam News Team (@oxfamgbpress) May 17, 2015
Meanwhile, people are coming together to help one another recover.
“We traveled out to Chautara in the Sindhupalchok region, the worst-affected district in Nepal. The hospital has been badly damaged, so the village sports field has been turned into a field hospital with huge tents doubling as operating theatres and children’s wards,” wrote Oxfam’s Lisa Rutherford in a recent blog for the Huffington Post.
“Our team for the district have set up a 10,000-litre bladder tank to supply the hospital with clean water and emergency pit toilets. … A group of young people have relocated their community radio station to the hill overlooking the field and continue to broadcast as usual. Volunteers appear at lunchtime with huge cooking pots of rice to feed anyone who needs to stand in the line.”
Efforts like these are making a difference—but there is much more to do. With the rainy season approaching soon, earthquake survivors in Nepal will need our continued support in the weeks ahead.
Help make sure clean water and other essentials continue to reach earthquake survivors.