Two earthquakes struck Nepal on 25 April and 12 May killing over 8000 people and injuring 18 000. Measuring 7.8 and 7.3 on the Richter scale, the earthquakes affected 35 of the country’s 75 districts, 14 of them severely. Twenty six hospitals and over 1100 health facilities were damaged in the earthquakes and 90% of health facilities outside the main towns rendered non-functional.
Responding to the urgent health needs of earthquake-hit Nepal, WHO has been supporting the Government of Nepal for providing medical relief to the nearly 5.6 million affected people, 2.8 million of whom have been displaced, with many still living in shelters fearing the continuing aftershocks and landslides.
Within hours of the earthquake on 25 April, WHO and the Ministry of Health and Population (MOPH), met at the Health Emergency Operations Centre, set up jointly to work in such crisis. WHO immediately sanctioned emergency funds, disbursed emergency medicines and sent in a surge team of experts to strengthen WHO’s support to MOHP.
WHO conducted a rapid needs assessment with MOHP in the worst affected districts, within a week of the disaster, to guide the health response. Co-chairing the Health Cluster with MOHP, WHO has been coordinating medical relief efforts of 148 partners to reach medical services to the severely affected areas in the most affected districts. WHO is also coordinating deployment of the over 100 Foreign Medical Teams (FMTs) that came into Nepal to support emergency response.
A month since the devastating earthquake, WHO is now focusing on district response and planning. WHO has stationed District Support Officers in all the 14 highly affected districts, to coordinate response, strengthen disease surveillance, management of services, while prioritizing assessment and outreach efforts to reach remote areas. WHO has strengthened its presence in Sindhupalchok, Gorkha, Nuwakot and Rasuwa – the worst affected among the 14 severely hit districts. The departure of FMTs is being planned with partners and MOHP to avoid gaps in services.
WHO has helped enhance disease surveillance by establishing an early warning response and alert system and surveillance sites in the key districts to collect information on any suspected cases of communicable diseases.
WHO continues to bring in medical supplies including emergency health kits, diarrheal disease kits, maternity kits, surgical kits and medical tents to meet the shortage of essential medicines and revive, even temporarily, primary health care services.
The ongoing priorities are to manage the injured, provide rehabilitation support to those discharged from the hospitals and psychosocial support to the affected population, while ensuring the regular services for maternal and child care, communicable diseases such as TB etc. The challenge is to address all the issues before the approaching rainy season, less than a month away.
From the Regional Director
WHO stands in solidarity with the people and the Government of Nepal in this crisis. I am moved by the terrible human impact of the devastating earthquake and truly impressed by the resilience of the people of Nepal to respond so bravely to the earthquake.
The Nepal earthquake has many lessons in emergency preparedness. We have seen how the key hospitals in Kathmandu continued to function despite the devastating earthquakes that rendered over 90% health facilities outside the main towns non-functional. The retrofitting at these hospitals, years of training of staff to handle mass casualties , and implementation of plans to function during disasters, paid off.
WHO has been working closely with a Ministry of Health and population to prepare the country for such a disaster more than a decade. Our pre-positioned essential medicines and medical supplies were made immediately made available. Emergency funds were sanctioned almost immediately - within six hours of the earthquake - to meet the immediate financial needs and fill critical gaps in the aftermath of the disaster. WHO surge team comprising of its best experts in emergency response coordination, epidemiologists, water and sanitation, risk communication, mental health, maternal and child health etc, from various office across the world, were called in to strengthen WHO support to Nepal. WHO kept partners appraised of the immediate and future needs of the earthquake-hit Nepal to galvanize support.
One month since the 25 April earthquake, we know that the disaster is far from over. With the monsoons fast approaching, there are more challenges ahead - to urgently restore primary health care services, even temporarily, provide water proof medical tents, essential medicines and keep a strict vigil to rapidly respond to any disease outbreak.
As the media attention fades away, this is the time for WHO and partners to stand with Nepal and help the country build back a more resilient health system. We are committed to support Nepal's health system to deliver life-saving and essential services to its people and build back resilient health facilities that will be safe in emergencies.
Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh
Regional Director