Nepal is one of the poorest countries in the world. Most of the population are subsistence farmers and tourism is the country’s only source of much-needed foreign currency. Almost half of all children are undernourished or malnourished and only around 60 per cent of adults are able to read and write. On the 25th of April 2015, the country was struck by an extraordinarily powerful earthquake, followed by a second on the 12th of May with its epicenter in Malteser International's area of operations. At least five strong aftershocks followed. The official death toll is 8,699, with more than 22,000 people wounded. According to the Nepalese government, over half a million houses have been destroyed or severely damaged and around 2.8 million people have lost their homes. The UN estimates that circa 5.6 million people have been affected by the disaster.
On the day following the first disaster, a Malteser International Advance Team – joined in the following days by a further group of medical specialists – was dispatched to the crisis region to provide emergency relief. After providing initial emergency medical and psychological aid to the survivors in Kathmandu, Malteser International is now concentrating its efforts on the population of the outlying rural regions: distributing aid materials to families in need and supporting hospitals as they provide medical care to the uncounted.
Malteser International Locations: Kathmandu (Country Office), Sindhupalchok, Kavre and Nuwakot districts
Isabel Brenn
+49-(0)221-9822-188
Email: isabel.brenn(at)malteser-international.org
Emergency relief missions are probably what comes to most people’s minds when they hear the words ‘humanitarian aid’, or ‘disaster relief’. However, emergency missions are actually just one part of a much bigger proces that goes on for years before and after disasters.
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In the Nepalese village of Pagretar, the 2015 earthquake rendered 95 per cent of the houses uninhabitable. Latima and her family lost their home too. Malteser International helped them to rebuild.
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