TAKING INTO ACCOUNT THE DIFFERENT NEEDS OF WOMEN, GIRLS, BOYS AND MEN MAKES HUMANITARIAN RESPONSE MORE EFFECTIVE AND ACCOUNTABLE TO ALL AFFECTED POPULATIONS.
A 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck Nepal on 25th of April at 11:56am local time causing large scale damage and many casualties. An additional major earthquake struck on the 12th of May. Over 8 million people are affected in 39 of Nepal’s 75 districts, with over 8,600 deaths and over 14,000 injuries (as of 18 th of May). Over 2 million people live in the 11 most critically hit districts in the Central and Western Region, including the Kathmandu Valley districts. In these locations, the 2011 census records 284,144 female headed households, 31,609 women with disabilities, 138,032 women over the age of 65, 609,247 girls aged 14 or under and 630,678 illiterate women and girls.
Current estimates suggest that approximately 750,000 houses have been destroyed or damaged. IOM’s Displacement Tracking Matrix has identified 234 displacement sites in the Kathmandu valley (Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur), hosting 41,890 IDPs2 . Data on the numbers killed, injured and displaced has not been disaggregated by sex or age to date.
The specific conditions of women and girls in the displaced camps and amongst the wider crisis affected population has yet to be fully assessed. The experience for women and girls in Nepal prior to the earthquake was one characterized by low levels of access to education, healthcare, economic, social and political opportunities. Recorded incidents of gender-based violence were high, with the National Demographic Health Survey (2011) indicating that 22% of women aged 15-49 had experienced physical violence and 12% had experienced sexual violence.
In addition, large numbers of women and girls are marginalised in society by caste designations and entrenched harmful traditional practices – such as child marriage, bonded labour and exclusion during menstruation. Other intersectionalities - such as age, marital status and disability – also exacerbate the level of discrimination. The ongoing crisis is likely to greatly heighten the level of vulnerability amongst women and girls.