EARTHQUAKE DISASTER 2015 IN NEPAL SITUATION AND RESPONSE REPORT (9) Report Submitted To: Goodwill Community Foundation-USA, Mercy Relief-Singapore, Disaster Aid International, District Disaster Relief Committee-Kavre, Nepal, Rotary Club of the Entrance Dist 9685, Rotary District 3292, Rotary Clubs worldwide, Well-wishers, Partners and Supporters Report Submitted By: Rotary District 3292 Rotary Club of Dhulikhel Community Development and Relief Agency Nepal Report Submitted On: Wednesday, May 13, 2015 0
Situation Report: Earthquake Disaster 12 May, 2015 Fresh quake rattles country (7.4 Richter scale) 61 dead, hundreds hurts Close to epicentre, Dolakha suffers heaviest casualties People leave houses to camp in open fields High-rises, residential houses further affected Landslides obstruct Araniko, Pasang Lhamu highways US Air Force chopper helicoptor missing in Charikot,Dolakha District Earthquake triggers landslide at Araniko highway Prime Minister of Nepal appeals for restraint and calm A fresh jolt that struck the country on Tuesday claimed 61 lives till late in the evening. The quake with its epicentre between Sindhupalchok and Dolakha districts has injured more than 1,200 people and ravaged most structures including schools, health posts and government offices. In Dolakha five people are believed to have been buried under the rubble of Paradise Hotel. Security personnel dug out two bodies from the site and three injured from the rubble of the Araniko bank, the quake has affected most of the buildings located in Charighyang and Saatdobato. Major roads linked with the district headquarters have got cracks. According to locals, some are feared to have been buried in landslides triggered by the quake. Locals at the district headquarters and surrounding areas have started living under tents. The Barda Bahadur battalion of Nepal Army has put up tents at 11 locations. In Sindhupalchok, 11 people died and more than 100 were injured, said police. Two motorcycles were reportedly buried in landslides. Vehicular movement on the Tatopani-Barhabise section has halted due to landslides. Some of the injured in Ramechhap have been ferried to medical facilities in the Capital. In Sarhlahi, two deaths were caused by a stampede. In Rasuwa, the quake has triggered avalanches in Langtang. Army personnel rescued 25 people as of the evening. In Kavre, more than 100 people were injured. In Nuwakot, seven people were hurt and scores of houses that were damaged by the April 25 quake toppled. Locals who had just started entering their houses were forced to return to makeshift shelters. In Janakpur, 10 people were injured while the recently constructed 55-feet tall statue of a Hindu deity was destroyed. People were preparing to spend the night out in the open. In Itahari, a woman died and three people were injured. Industries in the Sunsari-Morang corridor, along with department stores, have been shut. In Chitwan, 12 injured are being treated at Chitwan Medical College and Bharatpur Hospital. The Narayangadh-Mugling road stretch was closed briefly owing to landslides in Kali Khola. Police said five injured were referred from Makwanpur to hospitals in Bharatpur and Kathmandu Source: ekantipur.com 1
Map 1: Major 15 earthquake affected districts Source: Ministry of Home Affairs Incident report of Earthquake 2015 (Till May 12th): Total toll: 8,219 Injured: 17,866 Government buildings fully destroyed: 10,790 Government buildings partially destroyed: 14,997 Public house fully destroyed: 288,798 Public house partially destroyed: 254,112 People displaced/affected: 4.15 million S.N. District Name Deaths 1. Sindhupalchok 3224 2. Kathmandu 1209 3. Nuwakot 1000 4. Dhading 721 5. Gorkha 558 6. Rasuwa 411 7. Kavre 322 8. Bhaktapur 317 9. Lalitpur 179 10. Dolakha 107 11. Makawanpur 34 12. Ramechhap 32 13. Solukhumbu 22 14. Okhaldhunga 19 15. Sindhuli 14 2
Response for Disaster In response to the disaster, Rotary District 3292 Nepal-Bhutan, Rotary Club of Dhulikhel coordinating with GCF-USA/CDRA Nepal, District Disaster Relief Committee-Kavre district is implementing Earthquake disaster response with basic food survival package including. 1. Rice 7 Kg, 2. Masala 3 pkts 3. Lintel 1Kg 4. Steel plate 5 pcs 5. Food grain 1 kg 6. Spoon 5 pcs 7. Salt 1 pkt 8. Plastic jug 1 pc 9. Cooking oil 1 ltr 10. Plastic bucket 1 pc 11. Beaten rice 1 Kg 12. Noodles 1 pkt 13. Plastic Sheet 8x20 ft 14. Nylon Rope Total package cost Rs. 2,200/- now we are providing 1500 set of above mentioned items to be delivered to the victims affected by recent earthquake. Rotary Club of Dhulikhel/ CDRA Nepal team is working hard to response the situation. We believe that this will support 5 members family to survive 7 days. Rotary is coordinating many international Rotary clubs to support the people in need. We thank you very much for generous support to our GCF friends and Rotary friends worldwide for your cooperation on the difficult situation. We also thank Rotaract Club of Dhulikhel, Budol, KU, and Rotary Community Corps. What we did today? On 10th May, 2015 10 sets of relief packs distributed in Nayagaun, Chautari in Kavre district 40 sets of relief packs distributed in Patlekhet village ward no. 9, Kavre On 11th May, 2015 77 sets of relief packs distributed in Bhimtar-1, Sindhupalchok 43 sets of relief packs distributed in Mankha village, Jalbari of Sindhupalchok district. By mercy Relief, Singapore On 12th May, 2015 140 sets of relief packs distributed in Kashikhand Municipality Ward 1, 2, 3 Kavrepalanchowk 3
Sharmila Dhital Patlekhet-2 2 weeks ago Sharmila Dhital was living in a happy family but after earthquake she got to live in an open land with her 6 family members. Luckily, they got plastic sheet for the shelter from their small pond which is for rainwater harvesting for agro culture. The house is still there but got lot of cracks which can collapse any time as the after-shocks has not stopped yet. The rain is being a big trouble for the family. The family was dependent on the agriculture. But the big earthquake let them to be unemployed and no food for themselves. Two girls, who have been attending tailoring training which was organized by Rotary, came to CDRA office appealing to help. They came with a big hope; however they will get some help from us. CDRA Nepal's director Ashok Shrestha and the two volunteers from Australia David and Dianne Waterhouse handover a tarpaulin for the family. Patlekhet village ward no. 9, Kavre Local Volunteer represenatative from CDRA Nepal residing in Patlekhet village came to CDRA office asking for the food relief package to the victims. We planned to distribute 40 set of packs where no body reached till date, it was remote area, the villagers were happy to receive it. 4
A typical day in Banepa for a tired Australian Rotary Couple 11 May 2015 Mankha Village, Sindhupalchok The day started with the loading of the bus with 70 Buckets and the 4 X 4 Ute with 37 food buckets. Today we are travelling into Sindhupalchok District again as it was one of the worst hit areas in the Earthquake, the site of the epicentre of the second quake on the 26 th April. As we leave Banepa we pick up Rotarians and Rotaractors along the way. As some of the food parcels have been paid for by the Singaporean Mercy Relief three of their members are also coming. We travel down the Araniko Highway (with is the road into Tibet) for about an hour until we reach the village of Zero Kilo. Here the group splits up the bus and the Singaporean 4 wheel Drive turns left and proceeds to a village near Sipaghat where we had been before. Our vehicle, another 4 wheel drive and a tiny Hyundi continue down the highway for another hour, to a village about 45 Km this side of Kodari, which is on the boarder Nepal and Tibet. Here we turn right to Mankha Village about 10 Km off the Highway. We leave the highway on to a dirt road. We only get 15 m off the main road up a steep incline when the vehicle cannot proceed fully laden because of debris from a recent landslide so out we get, the vehicle takes off and we are left to walk up the 40 deg road covered in shale for half Km. We encourage each other as we climb as if we stop the organisers will have to leave someone with us and this cannot happen. We finally reach the vehicle which has stopped at an almost flat bit of road (I believe that in Nepal, it is only up or down as there doesn t seem to be any flay bits). Road is one of the worst we have travelled on to date and the further we proceed it gets worse. Finally for the last km it is only a very narrow track, the width of the vehicle with a 100 m drop on the outside and as the road is only used infrequently, it is covered with grass and very slippery. We hang on tight and hope for the best. All along this road we have only encountered damaged houses and cattle sheds. Very few are of modern design and the destruction is almost total. Next to the collapsed houses we see tarps spread out making temporary accommodation for whole families. The cattle also do not have cover so temporary shelter has been provided for them. (The people in the rural regions depend on their animals for their survival) We finally reach the village where we find total destruction with no complete dwellings visible. This village has not received much help and instead of tarps temporary living space is provided by old bits of Corrugated iron and rice bags. The villages start to come in from the surrounding hillside to see what we bring. The lists are brought out and the vehicles unloaded. Each family come forward as their name is called out to receive their bucket of food which will last a family of five for the next five days. Unfortunately we do not have any tarps with us this trip. Among the crowd are a number of young men with their head shaven except to topknot of hair left, this indicates that one of their relatives has died, probably on the 25 th the day of the earthquake. There are also two young men dressed in a white topi(hat) white shirt and pants, these men have lost a grandparent again during the earthquake. We have carried with us today a lady photographer from the local TV station in Banepa, she introduces me to a young mother holding a 6 week old baby. The photographer tells me the story of how this mother was outside their house at the time of the earthquake but the baby, and then only 4 weeks old was asleep inside. The house collapsed onto of the baby and the mother had to franticly dig her out thankfully with success. This is only one story of survival during the earthquake but i am sure that there must be many others. 5
Again we have to travel back down to the Highway along the same dreadful Road/track but we have only travelled half a Km on the highway when the traffic comes to a halt because of an accident ahead. As this is the only road across the Himalayas, there are many trucks fully laden, coming from Tibet and China these include a convoy of low loaders carrying large pieces of earthmoving equipment each low loader carrying what appears to be army or armed police personnel. We finally reach Banepa where we unload and are able to have a nice bucket shower??? We sit down for a meal but there is a storm brewing with much thunder and lightning with high winds and heavy rain. We think of all those poor people out there in the mountain regions sitting in their makeshift shelters. The power goes off and the emergency lights come on this happens twice so we decide to go the bed the time in now 9pm and that is a typical day for us in Banepa, Kavre Nepal. David & Dianne Waterhouse Rotary Club of the Entrance District 9685 Australia 6
11 May: Bhimtar Village, Sindhupalchok Today, 11th May a team from CDRA/GCF, Rotaract Dhulikhel, RCC simalchaur and Mercy Relief from Singapore headed towards the village called Bhimtar which is located in Sindhupalchok district where many people died with much destruction to dwellings following the recent earthquake, on the way we saw lots of damage on the either side of the road, the livelihood is very challenging and tough there. We proceed further and reach near to our destination, the road was next to the river, it was not good. Most of the road-way was water-filled by 1.5 ft. so our vehicles were halted for some time, we talked to our driver, he said he can t pass along that road; Bhimtar village was nearer just about 4 kms from where we were. We were thinking how to reach that place or call the villagers themselves, but it was not a good idea. All of sudden we saw a Tractor coming from the opposite direction. We were hoping there will be some help from them, but they were in hurry and did not wanted to go to Bhimtar, finally we convinced them to help by giving some amount and telling that we are on relief mission, now we started loading the Relief pack from our vehicle to the tractor. We went along with that tractor, the road further was even worst and bumpy, and it was very hard time for us, a new experience to all. At least, we call the villagers where the tractor can go, the villagers walked 20 minutes to collect the relief pack. We distribute them all and came back along with the tractor. We all feel proud that the relief pack went in hand of needy people. 7
An eyewitness account from a slightly frightened Australian Rotary Couple 12 th May 2015 Kashikhand Municipality Ward 1, 2, 3 Kavrepalanchowk Today started out as any other day we had breakfast at 7am and were on the road by 9am after loading some 50 empty buckets into the back of the 4X4 Ute. Today we are going to join forces with the Rotary Club of Madhyapur, Himalayan Patan, Dhulikhel Chamber and CDRA Nepal to deliver 140 food packages to a village about 40 Km south of Dhulikhel. The other Rotary Club is to supply all the supplies and some buckets while we supply some buckets and allocate some of the needy families that we have on our list. At the moment in Nepal, all aid has to be coordinated through the local district office, so we head into Dhulikhel to the Government office wait in turn to present our paperwork as to what we are giving and the location and quantities of the food parcels. We then head for the police station to register the gifts we are giving out. Finally we rendezvous with a small covered truck, two 4X4 vans and again a small Daihatsu Car and head of south along the PB Highway. We leave the bitumen road after an hour and follow a dirt road up into the hills to Kashikhand Village. The road is slightly better than yesterday but not much. Part of the road seems to be freshly bulldozed after some landslides. The little Daihatsu has trouble traversing some of the deep ruts and rocks that make up the road surface but we all make it in one piece. The village is perched on the top of a narrow ridge with steep drops into the valleys on either side. There is a reasonably large two story house in the centre of the village that has some signs of cracks from the original earthquake while most of the other houses around it are either totally collapsed or only partially standing. There are approx 100 people there to greet us and as the buckets had not been previously packed as usual, it took about one hour the fill them with rice straight from sacks together with the other items brought by the Rotary Club of Madhyapur. At about 12:45 as we were about to distribute the buckets, it happened, another major earthquake occurred. Dianne was resting with Rubita in the ute which was parked next to the two story house. I was on the other side of the house with the local village people. All panic reigned; people were screaming and running in confusion, mainly to get as far as possible from the two story house that i could see was swaying with the side walls moving in and out like a concertina. More cracks appeared but it did not collapse. Behind me there was a great crashing sound and when i looked up another part of a partially collapsed house fell down raising a cloud of dust. I looked for Dianne and finally saw that she had got out of the Ute and was comforting an old lady who was terrified. The main quake only lasted for about 30 to 40 seconds but to feel the earth under your feet move in all directions is an experience i will never forget. We have aftershocks that only lasted for a few seconds for the next 20 minutes. In the meantime the Ute driver quickly moved the vehicle away from the damaged building and drove it up the road away from the village. We also observed a house on the ridge opposite had collapsed and a cloud of dust had risen from it. The decision is made to quickly distribute half the buckets and leave the other half to the village elders to distribute. We then back track on to the main highway and return to Dhulikhel. We meet a group of Australians from RC Harvey Bay Sunrise who have come to Nepal to help. We offer them a job filling sand bags for our prototype low-cost house. They eagerly accept and return to Banepa with up. The uni students have been working hard and we are not needed to pack sandbags so the boys from Harvey Bay get to pack 60 odd buckets for tomorrow. When we go into the shed to pack the rice we find that the stack of 50 bays of rice are all over the floor having been collapsed by the shaking of the earthquake. 8
This night we have no power so if we want a shower?? It will be a cold bucket shower tonight. As the house has limited emergency lighting we are able to get a meal but the conversation turns to what we are going to do tonight, sleep in the school bus parked in the street below, or chance it and sleep fully dressed with a pack at the door with our passports and money in case we have to evacuate in a hurry. We decide on the latter, but during the night about every hour we are awoken by a tremor some large and some small. We also discuss the possibility of going straight home or staying till the 20 th but decide that as there is so much that we can do us will stick to our original departure date. As I write this it is 7:30 am on the 13 th May the day after the day i will never forget. Bye for now David & Dianne Waterhouse Rotary Club of the Entrance District 9685 (now in CDRA Office, Banepa, Nepal) 9
Progress on Low Cost Housing Today we are into day-6 building our prototype of a low cost house. We have had many volunteers over the last 4 days including Boys and girls from Kathmandu University, members of Bodhicharya Pariyati Centre and CDRA Nepal Volunteers. As the design was not fully developed, we had to learn as we go, but the house is developing into something for dwellings of homeless, especially those in remote locations in the mountains, at an affordable cost. We shall keep you informed as the progress continues. Prepared By: Photo and edit by Ashok Kumar Shrestha Anup Kumar Shrestha ashok.rotarydh@yahoo.com Mohan Prajapati Assistant Governor, RID 3292 CDRA Nepal 977-9851122737 David Waterhouse RC The Entrance waterhoused@bigpond.com 10