As part of Nepal Earthquake Relief Fund campaign supported by Canberra Nepalese Community- Australia and all our International friends along with a team of Higher Limits Trek visited the Budhathum village development committee (VDC) on 1st – 5th May 2015 to distribute relief materials to the victims of Earthquake disaster that hit Nepal on 25th April.
Helps Earthquake Victims in Budhathum Village, Dhading,Nepal!
For few days, we made a first-hand observation of the damages and destruction wrought by the Earthquake in different wards of Budhathum Village. Almost all the houses in all wards have been damaged. Especially in Ward no. 1, Ward no. 2, Ward no. 8 and Ward no. 9 nearly every single house has collapsed. Those houses that have suffered cracks are also not safe to be inhabited. For fear of aftershocks and falling debris, the villagers are currently living in temporary sheds build out on open fields or in porches with makeshift tents. Most of the water pipeline that provided steady supply of water to the village previously are broken thus creating a severe problem of smooth water supply. People are forced to fetch water from spring wells located quite a distance away, a back-breaking ordeal especially for little girls and women. Electricity has also remained interrupted since 25 April, as villagers make use of candles and kerosine light (tukis) in the evening. The villagers are urgently in need of tents, water, food and electricity. But most importantly, every school in the village suffered severe damages putting the future thousands of students uncertain. The government, particularly the Ministry of Education, should immediately take action to rehabilitate all the schools that have been damaged by earthquake not only in Budhathum village but in every village across the Nepal.
After we made first-hand observation of the earthquake disaster in the village as well as we distributed beaten rice, tarpaulins, mattress, dry noodles and plastic roll to the ward no. 8 and 9 because we didn’t had enough material to cover all the wards but promise them to come back again. The villagers had requested us to provide more provisions of food supplies, tarpaulins, tent and mosquito net as it had not been adequate enough to accommodate the entire households of the all wards.
During the visit, we noticed a near absence of the government at the village level. In fact our team was the first to reach the village and to provide relief materials.
It is my first but not last visit to the village to provide relief assistance. After discussion with the villagers, we have made further commitment to offer a second batch of relief materials to be sent to the village soon.
Our second leg of relief campaign has been begin already with focusing on effective and needed materials for the village.
We will post about the activities of the next round of relief campaign for our community.
Finally, we would like to thank our national and international friends, Canberra Nepalese Community- Australia for your generosity who have encouragingly supported and took part in this campaign and we hope your compassionate assistance will be equally forthcoming in the coming days.
Thanking you!!