By tractor, truck, foot—supplies reach rural Nepal

Emergency supplies distributed to earthquake survivors

May 28, 2015 | Web First
Mennonite Central Committee
Akron, Pa.
<p>With some extra manpower, the tractor pulls a wagon full of relief supplies up a gravel hill in the Okhaldhunga district of&nbsp;Nepal. Through MCC&rsquo;s partner, Group of Helping Hands, 300 families received enough food for three weeks, shelter materials, blankets, soap and cooking supplies. (MCC photo/Durga Sunchiuri)</p>

Using tractors and people power to haul supplies where trucks could not go, Mennonite Central Committee’s (MCC) partner organizations finished an initial distribution of emergency supplies to Nepal earthquake survivors on Tuesday, May 12—the same day a second major earthquake rattled the country.

The second earthquake caused further landslides in rural areas and exacerbated damage to buildings already affected by the April 25 earthquake. The first earthquake killed more than 8,000 people and devastated entire villages in rural areas. In addition to the major quakes, more than 240 smaller quakes and aftershocks also caused damage.

“All areas hit by the first earthquake were affected by the second one,” said Bruce Guenther, MCC’s director of disaster response. “We have already responded in some areas, and continue to provide assistance through our partners in rural and remote areas.”

In the weeks following the earthquakes, MCC’s local partners delivered assistance to more than 2,800 families in the districts of Dhading, Lalitpur and Okhaldhunga. Families received food and household items such as tarps, blankets, mattresses, hygiene items, kitchen utensils and flashlights.

Carrying out the distributions is difficult in some places because the remote areas may only be accessible by foot or by mountainous dirt roads.

In Darkha, a community in remote northern Dhading, MCC partner Shanti Nepal learned that the food situation was dire soon after the quake. While Shanti Nepal hurried to prepare a shipment of emergency, ready-to-eat food, a subsequent landslide, triggered by heavy rains in the days after the first quake, blocked the only road that leads into the community. It took more than a week for the road to be cleared so that trunks carrying food relief could get in to the area.

In Okhaldhunga district, getting to the Khijifalate main village after the first earthquake was a 10-hour truck journey, followed by transfer to smaller trucks, followed by a three-hour journey on a road passable only by tractors and motorbikes.

From there, beneficiaries had to carry supplies on foot to their homes in even more distant villages unreachable by motor vehicle. MCC’s partner, Group of Helping Hands, made five tractor trips in two days to get relief supplies from the trucks at the road head.

MCC continues to assess the situation in Nepal, to determine the longer-term response. Cash donations are urgently needed to support the response efforts. Donations can be made online at mcccanada.ca/nepal-earthquake, by phone at 1-888-622-6337, or by contacting the nearest MCC office.

See also:

MCC begins response to Nepal earthquake
Communities come together when the earth breaks apart

 
 

With some extra manpower, the tractor pulls a wagon full of relief supplies up a gravel hill in the Okhaldhunga district of Nepal. Through MCC’s partner, Group of Helping Hands, 300 families received enough food for three weeks, shelter materials, blankets, soap and cooking supplies. (MCC photo/Durga Sunchiuri)

Burnamay Khatri, 28, mother of three children, received food from MCC through one of its local partners, Group of Helping Hands, in Okhaldhunga district, Nepal. Khatri's home was destroyed after the earthquake.  (MCC photo/Durga Sunchiuri)

After a truck carried MCC supplies as far as it would go, Ragani villagers from Okhaldhunga district carried them home, over steep and rugged terrain. (MCC Photo/Durga Sunchiuri)

Anita Lama, 71, (right), and her family received food and sleeping mats from MCC through one of its Nepal partners, Rural Institution for Community Development. Because the earthquake destroyed two of the family’s houses, they have been living under tarps. Before they received sleeping mats, they were sleeping on a plastic sheet on the ground. (MCC photo/Binod Deshar)

Share this page: Twitter Instagram

Add new comment

Canadian Mennonite invites comments and encourages constructive discussion about our content. Actual full names (first and last) are required. Comments are moderated and may be edited. They will not appear online until approved and will be posted during business hours. Some comments may be reproduced in print.