Humanitarian Response: Nepal Earthquake Disaster Relief Efforts

This report evaluates the effectiveness of humanitarian efforts following the devastating 2015 Nepal earthquake, also known as the Gorkha earthquake. It examines the disaster's impact, the international response, and the roles of various organizations, including the UNDP, OCHA, IFRC, MSF, Oxfam, Save the Children, and CARE. The report assesses the initial relief efforts, the challenges encountered, and the long-term recovery progress. It highlights the strengths and weaknesses of the humanitarian assistance, emphasizing the slow utilization of funds by the local authorities, and the impact on the affected population. The report also addresses the socio-economic conditions, the role of political leadership, and the overall effectiveness of the relief operations, providing insights into the successes and failures of the aid provided and the factors that influenced the recovery process.

Running head: EFFECTIVENESS OF HUMANITARIAN EFFORTS DURING NEPAL EARTHQUAKE
EFFECTIVENESS OF HUMANITARIAN EFFORTS DURING NEPAL EARTHQUAKE
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author note

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Description of the disaster
Known also as the Gorkha earthquake, the Nepal earthquake took place in the year 2015
on April 25. The earthquake had a magnitude of 7.8 to 8.1Mw on the Richter scale and its
intensity was recorded on the Severe on the Mercalli Intensity. The earthquake claimed around
9,000 lives, injured more than 25,000 people and thousands others were rendered homeless. The
earthquakes epicenter was near the Gorkha District at the town of Barpak. Another 21 people
were also killed owing to an avalanche at the Mount Everest caused by the earthquake. Several
UNESCO declared World Heritage Sites were ruined due to the earthquake especially in the
capital city of Kathmandu. The aftershocks of the earthquake were also disastrous especially the
major aftershock that occurred on 12 May. It claimed nearly 200 lives hitting the country with a
magnitude of 7.Mw.
Immediately after the disaster shook Nepal, help and support started pouring in beginning
with its neighboring countries. Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka provided initial relief
and rescue materials to Nepal. The United Nations collaborated with the Government of Nepal
and along with 450 humanitarian agencies at the local level, relief operations began. CARE
Nepal was the relief organization that worked locally for providing humanitarian efforts. Other
major international organizations including the International Red Cross Society and Oxfam also
sent immediate relief to Nepal.
However, four years after the devastation, Nepal is yet to recover completely. The major
heritage sites and buildings that were destroyed are still seen in rubbles. Around 70 percent of
the affected residents are still living in temporary shelters. This shows that the international
humanitarian organizations, although quick to respond, failed to provide relief to the affected

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people. One of the prime reasons for this has been the slow and lethargic work by the local
authorities who failed to accumulate the relief amount and put it into use.
Disaster relief effort
Innumerable international organizations came forward to provide relief efforts to Nepal.
The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) provided initial relief efforts with activities
including removal of debris and managing emergency livelihoods. Apart from that, the UNDP
also assisted in the Post-Disaster needs Assessment of the Nepal government to indentify the
immediate needs and fulfill those needs immediately. The UN Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), that had been active in Nepal since 2005 also provided large-
scale emergency response during the earthquake. The earthquake led to the re-establishment of
OCHA’s country office to aid better during the disaster. Oxfam International also came up with
disaster relief efforts and set up numerous temporary shelters for the affected people. Other than
setting up the temporary shelters, the organization also managed to provide food items and
drinking water facilities to the affected ones (Oxfam.org, 2019). The Medicines Sans Frontiers
(MSF) organization also involved in providing disaster relief efforts to the people. Although it
majorly helped in providing medical and hygienic help, providing temporary shelters were also
done. the relief efforts continued after the second major aftershock on 12 May as well. The MSF,
along with providing health consultations, psychological support and treating patients distributed
food and shelter to the affected people. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red
Crescent Societies (IFRC) in collaboration with the Nepal Red Cross Society provided disaster
relief efforts to the affected people during the emergency phase (Ifrc.org, 2019). According to
the statistics provided in the organization’s website, food assistance was provided to 496, 724
families. Around 42,000 families were given cash grants on unconditional basis for immediate

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need, 130,334 families received at least one form of emergency shelter material (Ifrc-media.org,
2019). Save the Children, an NGO based in the United Kingdom launched the disaster relief
efforts on ground in Nepal especially targeting the vulnerable children. During the recovery
period in 2016, the organization provided vital nourishment to more than 1 million children and
helped almost 25,000 families to feed their children (Savethechildren.org, 2019). In addition, the
organization supported over 210,000 children during the crisis. Other than these organizations,
the Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere (CARE) was also a crucial contributor of
disaster relief efforts in Nepal after the earthquake. It was amongst the first international
agencies to provide ground level humanitarian assistance to the victims of the quake. The agency
not only provided immediate shelter and other materials to 10,000 affected people but also
arranged for pure water, hygienic sanitation and so on.
Many consider disaster relief efforts or humanitarian assistance as a short-term effort that
prioritizes the physical vulnerability. However, to those who consider humanitarian assistance as
going beyond physical vulnerability and including social vulnerability are of the view that it
should focus on long-term betterment of the affected people and the place as well (Cook,
Shrestha & Htet, 2016). In Nepal, most of the international humanitarian assistance lasted for a
year at the maximum. The disaster had damaged more than 70% of the country’s resources
including natural and human resources (Undp.org, 2019). The relief efforts during the emergency
or response phase were at peak with majority of the countries and international organizations
joining in with the local organizations. The OCHA closed its office in Nepal in December 2015,
eight months after the earthquake. Although Nepal remains a priority nation for the organization,
the humanitarian assistance that was provided during the emergency phase has slowed down
(Unocha.org, 2019). One of the prime reasons for this could be the lethargic attitude of the

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national government and the challenges that its geographical location poses with mountainous
terrains causing difficulty of access. The UNDP continued providing humanitarian assistance to
Nepal focusing on long-term recovery and rehabilitation program. The long-term program
included “scaling up renewable energy alternatives for some of Nepal’s most vulnerable people,
building a culture of disaster risk awareness” and so on (Undp.org, 2019). Some of the highlights
of UNDP’s work include safe removal of around 300,000 m3 of debris and use of 90% of debris
in construction work, providing emergency employment to 4,500 people including 40% women,
and rehabilitation and benefit of over 4450 households of 40 community infrastructures that were
damaged in the quake amongst others (Undp.org, 2019).
The IFRC however continued to its humanitarian assistance in Nepal after the
earthquake. In its one-year report of the earthquake, the organization detailed its long-term plan
for the recovery phase especially in terms of providing shelter, water and hygiene to the affected
people. In the year 2016, the IFRC had to halt is shelter activities owing to the government’s
decision to rebuild the houses. The organization then focused on training masons, builders and
common people in methods to build earthquake-resistant houses (Ifrc-media.org, 2019). Oxfam
International apart from providing immediate relief during the disaster also engaged in providing
recommendations to the government of Nepal in ensuring maximum success of the humanitarian
assistance. The organization found that landlessness is one of the major concerns for the country.
Landlessness takes place when people affected by any natural disaster are made homelessness
without any legal ownership of land or any document to proof the entitlement. This also includes
people with such lands that are not suitable for living due to damage. With a lack of experience
in disaster relief efforts, governments make the mistake of ignoring landlessness as the major

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cause of concern. Oxfam finds that owing to this condition, most of the affected people continue
to stay in temporary shelters with poor hygienic conditions.
The MSF began reducing its humanitarian efforts after three months of the earthquake.
During the three months phase, the organization had managed to conduct 2,500 health
consultations, 7,000 plus psychological support sessions, treating 240 emergency patients and
1200 physiotherapy sessions. In addition to that, the MSF transported more than 6000 tents for
families along with 13,000 iron sheets and reconstruction kits amounting to 3000 to help the
people prepare for the monsoon season later (Msf.org, 2019). Around 10,000 households were
ensured shelter in the regions of Dhading, Dolaka, Nuwakot, Gorkha and Budhy Gandaki valley
before the monsoons after the earthquake hit. Save the Children continued its efforts in Nepal
even after the response period as has been mentioned earlier. The organization has helped rebuild
many schools in Nepal. To be specific, it built 23 earthquake-resistant schools in Nepal with 176
classrooms that could accommodate more than 3000 children. The organization continues to
provide necessary items and aid to Nepal (Savethechildren.org, 2019).. Apart from that, its site
visitors are asked to donate for the Nepal earthquake relief funds even today, four years after the
earthquake hit.
It is therefore clear that the international humanitarian assistance has been at the highest
level during the Nepal earthquake. Most of the organizations and agencies have continued to
provide aid and support to the affected people. The emergency disaster relief effort in Nepal has
been considered one of the biggest in the present century. Numerous people found jobs and
rehabilitated to better shelters owing to the massive humanitarian assistance provided by
international organizations and agencies. With the kind of generosity and kindness demonstrated
by people both within and outside the country, it was clear that the affected people would soon

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be back to normal. However, despite such outpouring of compassion and kindness, Nepal is yet
to recover completely from the devastation. The prime reason for this has been the failed
political leadership of Nepal. As per a report, out of the 4 billion US dollars donated to Nepal for
relief efforts, only 16% has been utilized until today (Hrw.org, 2019). Children are still out of
school, several families still lack sufficient shelter and medical facilities have become harder to
access. The socio-economic condition of an already poor country further deteriorated because of
the failure of the national government after the earthquake. The affected families have started to
rebuild their houses on their own without waiting for the government’s response.
Overall effectiveness of the relief operation
As discussed in the above sections, the international disaster relief efforts were effective
especially during the response phase. The response phase refers to the first 6 to 12 weeks after a
disaster strikes. The humanitarian assistance after the response phase and into the recovery phase
was poor and not effective because most of the donations and resources provided to the
government of Nepal were not utilized. The discussion above made use of statistics to show the
kind of relief efforts the country had received after the earthquake but due to the negligence of
the local government, most of the relief funds could not be used for the rebuilding activities. it
has been found in the discussion that the UNDP, it s other department OCHA, the International
Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Society (IFRC) along with the Nepal red Cross
Society, the Medicines Sans Frontiers (MSF) agency and Oxfam International – all have
provided top level aid and support to the affected people. Apart from these agencies, Save the
Children and Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere (CARE) also provided
continued assistance to the affected people in Nepal. Millions of affected people including
women and children have been assisted by these organizations. As mentioned in the discussion,

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Nepal received 4 billion American dollars as donations for the earthquake relief efforts. While
the MSF had a budget of almost 11 million Euros as earthquake emergency response budget and
continuously monitors the condition in Nepal, the UNDP is providing continuous efforts for
long-term recovery of the people. On the other hand, Oxfam International has benefitted more
than 600,000 affected people with 51% male and 49% female(Oxfam.org, 2019). The
organization focused on not only providing relief efforts but also focused on “building back
better” (Www-cdn.oxfam.org, 2019). This means that the efforts would not only help the people
for the short term but also assist them in preparing themselves for the future. The contributions
and efforts given by these organizations in Nepal after the earthquake were the most in any
situation in the present century (Monitor.upeace.org, 2019). The country was overwhelmed by
the compassion and generosity demonstrated by the local and international agencies and the
different countries. It therefore was necessary for the government that was in charge of the relief
operations to make sure that every penny counted and not a single effort was wasted. It was also
necessary from the international community’s part to keep pressurizing the government and
make sure that the efforts reached every single person.

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References:
Cook, A. D., Shrestha, M., & Htet, Z. B. (2016). International Response to 2015 Nepal
Earthquake Lessons and Observations.
Hrw.org. (2019). Lessons for Nepal, Three Years After Deadly Earthquake. Retrieved from
https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/04/25/lessons-nepal-three-years-after-deadly-earthquake
Ifrc.org. (2019). Nepal earthquake - IFRC. Retrieved from https://www.ifrc.org/nepal-earthquake
Ifrc-media.org. (2019). Nepal: Earthquake One-year progress report. Retrieved from http://ifrc-
media.org/interactive/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/20160412-Nepal-earthquake-one-
year-movement-wide-progress-report.pdf
Monitor.upeace.org. (2019). Peace and Conflict Monitor, Nepal's recovery process since the
2015 earthquake. Retrieved from http://www.monitor.upeace.org/innerpg.cfm?
id_article=2104
Msf.org. (2019). Nepal: Three months after the earthquakes, MSF reduces operations | Médecins
Sans Frontières (MSF) International. Retrieved from https://www.msf.org/nepal-three-
months-after-earthquakes-msf-reduces-operations
Nepal: 6 months after the earthquake | Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) International. (2019).
Retrieved from https://www.msf.org/nepal-6-months-after-earthquake
Oxfam.org. (2019). Nepal earthquake response: creating lasting change for survivors | Oxfam
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Savethechildren.org. (2019). Nepal Earthquake Relief. Retrieved from
https://www.savethechildren.org/us/what-we-do/emergency-response/historical-
emergencies/nepal-earthquake-relief
Undp.org. (2019). Earthquake in Nepal | UNDP. Retrieved from
https://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/crisis-response/past-crises/nepal.html
Unocha.org. (2019). Nepal. Retrieved from https://www.unocha.org/asia-and-pacific-roap/nepal
Www-cdn.oxfam.org. (2019). BUILDING BACK RIGHT Ensuring equality in land rights and
reconstruction in Nepal. Retrieved from
https://www-cdn.oxfam.org/s3fs-public/file_attachments/bp-building-back-right-nepal-
210416-en.pdf