Holistic Rehabilitation for Post-Earthquake Nepal

One Year Has Passed and Nepal Still Needs Your Help, Now More Than Ever!

25/04/2016

Kathmandu, Nepal -- Exactly one year ago, Nepal was struck by the first of several massive earthquakes, killing over 8,000 people and injuring more than 21,000. Immediately, governments and international organizations like IsraAID mobilized to provide emergency support and save lives.

IsraAID’s Search and Rescue team was proud to find and recover the last survivor buried under the rubble, Krishna Kumari – (see story http://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-aid-team-reunited-with-nepalese-woman-rescued-fromrubble/), and the below picture of her recently after months of medical support and physical therapy sponsored by IsraAID). Our Medical Mobile Units stayed for months in the country, treating over 4,000 people, and reaching far flung villages that never received aid nor medical attention.

For weeks after the earthquake, the ground continued to shake, and fear, shock, and grief became to turn into trauma and worries of long-term effects rose. To combat this, and the many other consequences of the chaos, among them trafficking and domestic violence, IsraAID launched psychosocial programs to raise awareness and support local governmental and civil society social workers, mental health clinicians, and outreach staff from the most affected districts.

For those that supported us during this time, on behalf of our staff, volunteers, and the communities we serve, we would like to extend to you our kind gratitude and appreciation. Your support was indispensable.

Yet beyond the dead and the injured, and the emergency needs, the most terrifying effect of the earthquake was felt in the loss of homes, schools, jobs, income, and an overall sense of hope. Over 500,000 homes were destroyed, and in the ensuing winter, long after the news and the aid had shifted to other disasters and crises, tens of thousands starved, and many lives were lost.

Now, a year later, the effects continue to be felt, as the Nepalese society as a whole struggles to recover, rebuild, and move towards a better future.

To tackle this problem, we initiated long-term projects in Nepal to answer the needs in the most durable and effective way, and emphasize sustainability. Our programs include educational support and young leadership programming, and capacity-building programs for local entities (NGO, Hospitals, Universities) working on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) issues, as well as medical camps and other critically needed projects and humanitarian response. 

HIGHLIGHTS:

IsraAID launched the “A Roof for All” program, building 685 semi-permanent structures for the most affected villages (see pictures below).

We also inaugurated our “Women Empowerment & Livelihood” program, focusing on community-based psychosocial support training and income generation (bee-keeping) – reaching over 3000 women from 6 districts.

The following is a testimony from one of our trainees in the HoneyAID – Women empowerment through sustainable beekeeping program:

“I Lost my House and all that I had, I Lost all hope after the earthquake… When IsraAID reached to our village, and we built shelters for all the community and received beekeeping training and beehives, We started to see things differently. We are able to rebuild hope and to see the future in a positive way” (Mrs. L, 48, Chatury Village)

And another testimony from a Teacher training for Child Trauma prevention post-earthquake as part of IsraAID’s Mental Health and Psychosocial support capacity building Project.

“I have taken lots of training in my lifetime during my 18 years’ service as a teacher, But the one provided by IsraAID was different, it was practical implacable in the classroom and really effective in my point of view. I feel I have more tools and confident.” (Teacher, Sindhupalchowk)

Unfortunately, despite these efforts, Nepal remains in crisis, and hundreds of thousands are still in dire need of humanitarian assistance.

To assist them, we are appealing to you, those who kindly supported our response in the past, to join hands with us and Global Giving, and respond to the crisis unfolding in Nepal.

Today, for a limited time, Global Giving has generously agreed to match donations to our Nepal program.

With your help, we will continue supporting Nepal through these challenging times, and keep on providing the most robust, effective and efficient support we can to help Nepalese families, communities, and the government together build a better and brighter future.

Thank You. 

Links:

• IsraAID Nepal Facebook Page
• IsraAID Shelter Program

GG Report January-April 2016

Nearly one year has passed since Nepal was hit by the devastating earthquake of 7.9 Richter Scale in April of 2015. And IsraAID's support to Nepalese communities still continues with even wider geographical and demographic coverage. Starting with the emergency response programs like Search and Rescue and Emergency Medical Relief, IsraAID is now working on a more sustainable and long term projects in Nepal. IsraAID currently is working on areas like Livelihood and Women Empowerment projects, Educational Support Program and Capacity Building programs for local NGOs working on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) issues.

As a part of its Women Empowerment and Livelihood Programs, IsraAID has started  a project on Beekeeping called Honey Aid. The project has trained 136 women so far on beekeeping and plans to train 500 women from rural earthquake affected villages. The training will be focused on Beekeeping, Harvesting and Marketing. The project's main objective is to empower women by providing them with livelihood skills.

IsraAID is also the key agencies in Nepal working in the area of Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS). IsraAID has ongoing MHPSS projects in 7 earthquake affected districts of Nepal. IsraAID is one of the key technical supporters of several NGOs working on MHPSS issues in Nepal. It has trained more than 2000 NGO staffs, community mobilizers, volunteers and social workers in Nepal. IsraAID is also the key coordinating agency for all the Hotline Service Providers in Nepal. IsraAID has recently provided training to more than 100 hotline staffs of five major hotline providers in Nepal. We also conducted, for the first time ever, an experience sharing and partnership platform for all the hotline providing NGOs of Nepal.

As a part of IsraAID's Educational Support Program, IsraAID is supporting 65 orphan youths, who have lost their parents in the earthquake. We provide these youths with educational scholarship to complete their studies, vocational/skill development trainings as per their interest and job placement training and support. Likewise, IsraAID's education program also includes a 10 month long training course called Nepal Disaster Specialist's Education Program (NDSEP) in coordination with Department of Psychology at Trichandra College in Kathmandu where we have trained 25 highly skilled individuals from different fields of development sector to become disaster specialists. This program aims to cater to the scarcity of disaster specialists in Nepal in case of potential future emergencies.

On top of our long term projects, we also respond to emergency situations in Nepal and run short term interventions as needed. With severe winter in Nepal last December-January, the international agencies and government agencies were not able to provide safe housing to people in the hills and mountains of the earthquake affected villages making them victim to harsh winter and cold of the mountains. Owing to this situation, IsraAID started its Beat the Winter, project where our team distributed more than 1100 winter kits in Sindhupalchowk district. Similarly, IsraAID's Community Theater response team went as far as North East India (among Nepalese communities of India) with Pyschosocial First Aid intervention program after the area was hit by 6.7 earthquake of January 2016. So far, IsraAID's community theater team have reached out to more than 30,000 individuals in the earthquake affected districts of Nepal with various Psychosocial Support Programs and interventions.

So, we would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank all our supporters, well wishers and contributors without whom all of these wonderful activities and programs to support the earthquake affected communities of Nepal would not have been possible.

Thank You.