Earthquakes in Nepal 2015

What was ActionAid's response to the Nepal earthquakes?

ActionAid Nepal reached more than 150,000 people across six counties – Kathmandu Valley, Sindupalchowk, Rasuwa, Kavre, Dolakha and Makwanpur – through our emergency response programme and ongoing community-led reconstruction programme.

Our existing relationships with local partners and communities meant we could respond quickly and reach some of the worst hit and hardest to reach areas up in the mountains.

This response was possible thanks to the generosity of many individual supporters, as well as the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), and the Alborada Trust.

Initial emergency response (Apr 2015-Nov 2015)

When the earthquake struck, ActionAid Nepal immediately responded supporting more than 118,000 people affected by the disaster with immediate relief. For example:

• We gave food support to over 18,500 families.
• We provided emergency shelter to 7,000 families, until more permanent homes could be built.
• We distributed over 7,000 dignity kits to women, containing essential items like underwear, soap and sanitary pads.
• We set up 50 temporary learning centres and gave education kits to 9,580 children to help them keep learning.
• We set up 23 women-friendly spaces – providing over 6,600 women with a safe place to get training, support, and discuss changes they want to see in their community.
• We provided cash for work schemes to over 6,700 households.

Community-led recovery programme (Nov 2015-Apr 2018)

Following our initial response, ActionAid focussed on offering training and support to help the most vulnerable people gain access to land to rebuild their homes, and gain the skills they need to set up small businesses and earn a living again. For example:

• We offered psychosocial care to support women suffering from domestic violence and other issues.
• We trained 89 women from affected communities in leadership development.
• We supported 592 people to set up or strengthen collective small businesses, such as poultry, cardamom and vegetable farming.
• We trained 149 people in micro-enterprise and business plan development.
• We provided vocational training to 402 women and other marginalised groups to help them earn a living.

Our long-term support ensures that communities are able to build back stronger for the future. 

How did ActionAid's response promote women's leadership?

When a disaster strikes, women are usually the worst affected. In many countries women are not included in decisions that affect them, making it easy for women's specific needs to be neglected. That's why in emergencies ActionAid promotes women's leadership and works to challenge traditional power dynamics. As part of our response to the Nepal earthquakes we took the following actions: 

• We supported women from affected areas to form distribution committees and lead the relief distributions – e.g. they collected all the information, coordinated and monitored our distributions. These same groups are now women's reconstruction committees and are very active in the recovery programme.
• We ran workshops with women on leadership in the reconstruction work, equipping them to take a lead role.
• We ran discussion groups with women to ensure their needs were incorporated into reconstruction plans for their villages.

By offering women a safe place to have discussions and enabling them to become leaders, we made sure that women are at the heart of rebuilding their communities. This means their needs will be met by the new plans for their villages, and that they develop skills and confidence to take a more active role in society going forward.