Shelter for more than 15,000 people in Nepal
Local volunteers assist in delivering ShelterBox aid to the people of Pipaldanda in Nepal. (Liam Arthur/ShelterBox)
ShelterBox has now been able to provide shelter for more than 15,000 people whose lives were turned upside down following the recent Nepal earthquakes.
ShelterBox has now been able to provide shelter for more than 15,000 people whose lives were turned upside down following the recent Nepal earthquakes.
Despite the second major earthquake to hit the country last week, which measured 7.3 in magnitude, our ShelterBox response teams have been working tirelessly to reach families whose homes have been destroyed or badly damaged.
The teams have been working with fellow aid agencies the Nepal Red Cross Society, the Agency for Technical Cooperation and Development (ACTED), the International Organization for Migration (IOM), and Handicap International to help coordinate and distribute supplies of aid.
So far, more than 2,600 shelter kits and almost 500 UN specification tents have been distributed to families in a variety of areas including the capital of Kathmandu, and the districts of Dhading and Sindhupalchok. Each tent will provide vital shelter for a family whose home has been destroyed, while shelter kits contain the vital items to enable families to create temporary shelters and start repairing their damaged homes.
Our teams have been further helped by local volunteers, including people like Rom Singh Basnyal, who has been helping distribute aid to other families despite suffering a great deal of loss after the earthquake.
Rom Singh Basnyal, a local volunteer who has been helping distribute ShelterBox aid. (Liam Arthur/ShelterBox)
Rom comes from the village of Pipaldanda in the district of Sindhupalchok, but is currently working as a lawyer in Kathmandu. After the first earthquake took place, he travelled by bus and then on foot for further hour and a half to get back to his hometown. When he arrived, he returned to find his family home destroyed and his mother buried under the rubble.
Rom had to carry his mother’s body to a burial spot a few miles away before returning to help other villagers recover the bodies of the dead. It took five days for them to recover all of the people who had been buried in the disaster.
Rom has shaved his head in mourning, as is the tradition in Nepal. Liam Arthur, one of our ShelterBox response team members, said: 'Shaved heads are unfortunately very common sights on the streets at the moment.'
Rom has shaved his head in mourning, as is the tradition in Nepal. Liam Arthur, one of our ShelterBox response team members, said: 'Shaved heads are unfortunately very common sights on the streets at the moment.'
Thankfully, the rest of Rom’s family survived and ShelterBox has provided them with a tent to help them shelter from the coming monsoon rains. Rom had walked for an hour and a half from the village through high mountainous terrain to help our response teams load up the first of our trucks travelling to Pipaldanda with tents for the villagers, along with trucks delivering aid to other areas too.
ShelterBox response team member Liz Odell shows villagers in Pipaldanda how to put up the tents that were distributed. (Liam Arthur/ShelterBox)
Help from people like Rom, along with cooperation from other organisations, is crucial in helping our aid to reach remote communities in Nepal’s mountainous landscape. However, we still need your support to make sure that we can continue to provide the shelter to keep families safe and dry before the monsoon rains arrive. Find out how you can help.
