BACKGROUND
COMMUNICATION IS AID
On 25 April 2015 Nepal was struck by a 7.8 magnitude earthquake, causing severe loss of life, injuries and damages. Immediately following the earthquake, the Government of Nepal launched search and rescue as well as response efforts. Under the leadership of the Government, humanitarian agencies scaled efforts to reach affected communities to address immediate needs. In order to ensure communities can help themselves and access the available support, it is critical that they have clear information and are able to communicate with government and aid providers. The Communicating with Communities (CwC) Working Group was established days after the earthquake to coordinate community outreach efforts. Chaired by UNICEF and supported by OCHA and the UN Resident Coordinator's Office, the CwC coordinated with clusters to gather key messages that could be shared with communities. Partnerships with media personnel, particularly radio, which were established in preparedness efforts, strengthened coordination of community outreach initiatives. The CwC also worked to advocate for and coordinate efforts in repairing radio stations, providing temporary spaces for radio operations, and building capacity of community radio to provide key life-saving and life-enhancing messages to communities.
In order to better understand immediate information needs of affected communities, the CwC coordinated a key informant assessment. Working with implementing partnersl, the CwC conducted informant surveys (222 respondents) across 10 earthquake affected districts. This assessment provided important information on vital information needs for different community segments. While the assessment is not representative, it did provide indicative insight that was useful for implementing agencies.