One month later: Nepal team serving 18 villages devastated by 2 earthquakes

Photo: Our team was the first to respond to 13 villages in critical need of relief supplies. A brave survivor of Dhumkus village seen here receives rice and lentils.

The people of Kathmandu, Nepal, continue to rebuild their lives after the devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake that struck the region on April 25, 2015, which killed more than 8,800 people and injured more than 23,000. Hundreds of thousands of people were made homeless when entire rural villages were flattened across many districts of the country. A second major earthquake with a 7.3 magnitude occurred on May 12th causing significant loss of life and more destruction to homes, historic buildings, and major roads in Nepal.

Thanks to contributions from our faithful donors, we have now delivered over 13 tons of food such as rice, lentils, cooking oil, and salt to 18 villages affected by the earthquake.

In addition to food, we’ve provided temporary shelter, mosquito netting, and bedding for several of the villages. For 13 of these villages, we were the first responders on the scene; some had still not seen any aid 3 weeks after the first earthquake.

Our Executive Director, Kirby Trapolino, who began making his way on an already-scheduled trip to Nepal just 3 days after the earthquake said, “The scenes of devastation we saw seemed straight out of a WWII movie. The village of Sakhu appeared to have been bombed in an air raid; residents were sifting through the rubble trying to salvage what little is left of their possessions. But on a much higher note, we were able to bring 125 families here a week’s rations of rice and lentils. Nepal has a very long road to recovery ahead. However, for months to come our local native team will continue to serve these who have lost everything.”

We will continue to support these 18 villages and others with more food as needed. However, our next step in the relief effort will turn to helping families rebuild. We are planning to start with the eight families of girls from our She Has Hope trafficking rehabilitation home who lost their homes. It will cost just $2,000 per home, using existing salvaged bricks and stones, coupled with new roofing and timber the fund will provide.

We also need to make repairs at our farmland, as the foundation and some supports of the goat house were damaged. A larger, long-term goal that has been created as a result of the earthquakes is buying new property outside the city to build our own earthquake-resistant facilities for our girls home, boys home, and for the She Has Hope rehabilitation home. The rental facilities we are making use of right now have been inspected and deemed not safe to withstand future earthquakes because of fractures found in the buildings.

For awhile, the children in our Nepal orphan homes slept outdoors, frightened by the first 7.8 magnitude earthquake, then they moved to the ground floor of the main house for 3 weeks so that they could easily exit the building quickly in case of another aftershock. Due to no other available options for housing at this time, the children are sleeping back in their beds, as major aftershocks are no longer expected.

Please keep our orphans, our girls and their relatives, and our native staff in your prayers. If you have not already donated to our earthquake relief fund, please chip in any amount using the “take action” link below — it will all make a lasting difference in bringing hope to our people in Nepal. Thank you for following our stories and posts here on our web site, and on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and not growing numb to the news. It is important to stay aware of the needs and the reality so that we can generate the monumental support that Nepal is going to need in order to recover from this devastating catastrophe.

Take Action: donate to our Nepal Earthquake Relief Fund | shop amazon through this link — as an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases

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