INTRODUCTION
On the 25th April 2015, Nepal was hit by a 7.8 earthquake, causing major damages to houses and infrastructures, killing over 8,800 people and injuring thousands more. The Government of Nepal (GoN) has reported that 30 out of overall 75 districts were affected, including highly populated areas in Kathmandu Valley but mostly remote areas in the mountains, especially Sindhupalchowk, Kavre, Nuwakot, Rasuva, and Dolakha districts in the central region and in Kaski, Gorkha, Lamnjung districts in the Western region.
A subsequent 7.3 earthquake hit the country on the 12th May 2015, with its epicentre in Sindhupalchowk. There were multiple aftershocks. Thousands of families slept outside in makeshift shelters in fear of further collapsing. Overall, the April and May earthquakes left 8,891 people dead, destroyed more than 600,000 houses, and damaged another 290,000 houses. During the height of the emergency, some 188,900 people were temporarily displaced. This adds up to more than two thirds of the country’s buildings having been affected by the 2015 earthquakes.
ACTED established its Nepal mission two days after the first earthquake. It has since distributed emergency relief items, rehabilitated basic infrastructure, trained masons on how to build back safer, and conducted 6 district-level detailed needs assessments. ACTED has its capital office in Kathmandu and operates in Dolakha, Sindhupalchowk, Dhading, Solukhumbu, Okhaldhunga, and Ramechhap districts.
In December 2015, ACTED conducted a detailed assessment on the vulnerabilities and needs of the affected communities in Ramechhap district, which has not been well-served by humanitarian agencies. The main objectives of this assessment were: i) to inform the Project Development Department (PDD) on the needs of the communities in order to design future projects, and ii) to inform coordination on the needs of communities in order to target the most vulnerable and overlooked households.