Summary
2014
August
Torrential rain caused heavy floods and landslides in 23 districts throughout Nepal.
- 23 district affected
- 202 people confirmed dead
- 149 people injured
- 36,949 families affected
- 10,193 families displaced
- 36,949 houses fully or partially destroyed
NRCS conducted initial rapid assessment and distributed relief items. The IFRC DREF allocation of CHF 249,709 was approved on 21 August to assist 4,000 families. Following which IFRC, on behalf of the Nepal Red Cross Society (NRCS), launched an Emergency Appeal of CHF 2.46 million on 27 August to meet humanitarian needs of 10,000 families.
September
With the cease of rains and recede of floods, the situation improved in most of the districts and displaced families started to return to their lands. NRCS continued to distribute non food relief items (NFRIs), water sanitation hygiene (WASH) items and conducted health and hygiene promotion activities.
October
Operation Update no. 1 was issued on 8 October. Following detailed assessments, NRCS's NFRI distributions focused on families who lost their houses.
November
The Emergency Appeal was revised with a budget of CHF 1.55 million (around 40 percent reduction from the initial budget). The target beneficiaries were reduced to 8,000 families, and the recovery activities were planned for four worst affected districts1 . December
As part of early recovery, NRCS distributed shelter kits and cash for bamboo frame to the displaced families in the four worst affected districts. Lesson learned workshop was conducted on 11 December with participation from NRCS district chapters, headquarters and IFRC. The key findings are reflected in Operation Update no. 2.
2015
January
Number of families increased in camps in Banke, Bardiya and Dang districts as the families living in the schools from October 2014 to January 2015 shifted to the camp when the schools were reopened. While the number of families remained same in the camps of Surkhet district.
There were a total of 2,027 families in camps of the four districts. These families were provided with shelter; staple food; water sanitation and hygiene promotion (WASH) facilities by NRCS, shelter box, UNICEF, WFP and other humanitarian organizations.
February
Operation Update no. 2 was issued on 27 February.
March
The number of families living in camp gradually reduced to 1,267 as flood water receded and families returned to their location to rebuild their houses. The cash disbursement for shelter assistance commenced late due to lengthy process in verification and identification of the beneficiaries. An additional two-month operation timeframe extension was requested.
It is also worth noting that cash transfer programming (CTP) was being piloted by NRCS with support from IFRC. A joint WASH monitoring visit was conducted between 8 and 14 March in the four districts. The key findings are reflected in Operation Update no. 3. IFRC conducted Resource Management System (RMS) user training for 25 staff and volunteers to introduce and finalize the translated RMS manual.
April-May
The procurement of 2,500 NFRI completed and prepositioned as the disaster preparedness stock. Humanitarian Country Team (HCT) organized a one-day-workshop on 10 April with the Ministry of Home Affairs and other five key cluster lead government agencies and co-leads to introduce content of HCT flood contingency plan. The plan has been useful to identify critical gaps and prepare immediate steps for effective flood response for future.
NRCS reduced the target of progressive shelter from 400 to 140 due to low funding confirmation for shelter construction. This was reflected in Operation Update no. 3. Surkhet was selected over the four worst affected districts for progressive shelter support as shelters were severely damaged in the district. Surkhet district, which was not affected by the earthquake, resumed the construction of progressive shelter activities.
A 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit the country on 25 April; followed by series of frequent aftershocks including the one with 7.3 magnitude on 12 May in which affected 57 districts. NRCS and IFRC diverted some of the resources away from this operation. Click here for more information.
June-July
Operation Update no. 3 was issued on 2 June. Construction of 140 progressive shelters was completed through cash transfer programme in Surkhet district.