1. Key Demographic Information
-0.61% Population Growth Rate 287,798 Total Population (66,688 households)
0.92m/f Sex Ratio 2011.
51.9% Female Population (149,447 females)
49.1% Male Population (138,351 males) 24% Of households are female headed (66,688 female headed households) 2,916 Women with disabilities 3,692 Men with disabilities 4,205 Polygamy (3.8% of 10+ males)
40.8% Contraceptive Prevalence Rate 2 5,087 Single Women (Widow)(4.18%)
72.41% Of women were married before the age of 20 (59,711 women)
47.1% Of men were married before the age of 20 (32,513 women)
11.5% Of men are aged above 60 10.8% Of women are aged above 60 36,429 Adolescent girls 34,610 Adolescent boys
- Impact of 2015 Earthquakes
On 25 April 2015, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit Nepal, followed by succeeding aftershocks, causing severe devastation, destruction and loss of lives. The earthquakes caused 8,891 deaths, destroyed more than 600,000 houses and damaged another 290,000 houses. Out of Nepal’s 75 districts, 14 districts which were home to 5.4 million Nepalese people were among the most affected. Sindhupalchok district was one of the most severely affected districts in Nepal with total number 3,570 deaths (40 per cent of the total death toll in Nepal; 1,507 males and 2,063 females) and 1,435 cases of injury and 8 are still missing4. The earthquakes have heightened pre-existing vulnerabilities and are expected to significantly stunt the development progress of the district.
Following the 25 April earthquake, the immediate response was primarily focused on search and rescue operations. A total of 2,563 security forces were deployed and 377 injured people were rescued. With active support of the district authorities, about 200 humanitarian organizations were immediately mobilized to provide lifesaving assistance including shelter, food, health, water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) and protection to women, girls, boys and men affected by the disaster. The most vulnerable groups (female headed households/single women, pregnant women, lactating mothers, adolescent girls, senior citizens, and persons with disabilities) were provided with dignity kits and other essential support for their health care, nutrition, psycho-social support, and referrals through women safe houses, women centres, and multi-purpose women’s centres. The damage to infrastructure was quite severe with destruction of 61,170 individual houses, 75 out of 80 health posts and 547 schools. Essential public infrastructure was also severely affected with 41 out of the 43 district headquarter buildings damaged and 25 out of 29 security posts completely destroyed. In the district, a total of 83421 Households were affected, 89884 relief cards were distributed to the people (in preliminary phase). It was estimated that agriculture loss was about 3 billion Nepali Rupees; and 90% food grains lost.
Of the estimated 288,000 people in the district, 99 per cent were affected by the earthquake. During the height of the emergency, about 88 per cent (230,400 people) were displaced which forced hundreds of thousands of people to live in temporary shelter. About 52 per cent of the displaced population was hosted in camps while the rest were staying in scattered sites or in other makeshift shelter. Immediate needs identified were shelter, food, health care, education, information, protection and various non-food items.
In the aftermath of the 2015 earthquakes, more than 50 organizations provided services to the vulnerable groups through protection cluster in close coordination with District Disaster Relief Committee under the leadership of Women and Children office. More than 3000 children and 20,000 women in vulnerable situation received various services- dignity kits, radios, solar lamps, psychosocial counselling, livelihood support etc. in that period 9 Female Friendly Spaces, 1 Multipurpose Women Center (MPWC), 79 Child friendly spaces, 3 counter-trafficking posts, 1 information center were set up to provide such services. 1,700 children were supported with the cash value of Rs. 5000.00 from I/NGOs side and 884 children received Rs. 4,000.00 cash support from District child Welfare Board. Similarly, 7,776 vulnerable women (including pregnant, lactating mothers, single women, older women, women with disabilities) were provided with dignity kits by the UN and other international and local organizations in coordination with the WCO.