May 25
Within the last few days, GlobalMedic volunteers have assembled another 6 shelters to supplement or replace school buildings that have been destroyed in Sindhupalchok. The village of Kadambas is a rugged one hour drive up a mountain, although most community members make the 3-4 hour walk twice a day to gather supplies and food. Kadambas lost its main school, which provided education to approximately 400 students in the area.
The students whose schools have been affected in Sindhupalchock have been unable to attend a safe structure for class, let alone to play with their friends for the past one month since the earthquake.
GlobalMedic is installing these tents to provide not only a safe, clean environment within which children can learn and play, but a durable, dry shelter for refuge in the upcoming monsoon season. GlobalMedic volunteers ensured that the tents were located in a location that would not be vulnerable to likely future landslides.
Along with the shelters, GlobalMedic’s RRT are continuously providing purified drinking water at local hospitals and IDP camps across earthquake affected areas. Families who have been forced to drink water from contaminated sources have been suffering from water borne illness and the severe symptoms that accompany them. With GlobalMedic’s water purification systems like the Aqua-Response and AP700's, the RRT is capable of providing IDP camps and communities with thousands of litres of water to drink, cook with and wash with in a safe and healthy manner.
May 20
The past several days have been busy for our team on the ground in Nepal. The first rotation of team members from Canada have now departed and rotation #2 is well into their tour.
Here are some highlights of the past few days:
WHO’s water tester reported our water to be the cleanest and requested we fill a large tank in Ratna Park. We have continued to purify ~ 10,000L per day produced with the AR-10 water purification unit at this location.
A chlorine disinfection site has also been set up at Ratna Park to allow families to sterilize dirty water containers – a simple solution to protect families health.
The Trekker water purification unit has been running at Grande Hospital, providing ~700L of clean water per day. Our team is looking into repairing the water system inside the hospital; this repair will produce 3000L of clean water per day.
We have been working with DART completing assessments in remote communities and distributing water purification tablets as well as installing tents – we installed a Celina tent that will replace a damaged school in Sathihure. The school previously served 160 students and replacing was the top priority of the community – even before household shelter.
We will continue to install tents, distribute household water systems and hygiene kits and provide clean water to communities with our water purification systems. Make no mistake, this is still the acute emergency phase of the response. People need shelter and access to clean water in order to stay alive. Our teams will keep meeting those needs.