Dolakha District and Gorkha Earthquake:
An Introduction
Dolakha
district is situated in Janakpur zone, Central Development Region, currently
located in Province No. 3 and is a mountainous district. It covers an area of
2,191 sq.km and has a population of 186,557 within 45,658 households (CBS, 2011). Over 89% houses are
adobe construction and only least number of houses is concrete built (ACTED, 2015).
On
25th April, 2015, the country was hit by an earthquake measuring 7.6
in magnitudes, epicenter at Barpak of Gorkha district about 81km northwest of
the capital (MOHA, 2015).
The same earthquake was measured as 7.8 Mw, Mercalli intensity of IX
(Violent) at 11:56 am, epicenter at Barpak of Gorkha district at a depth about
8.2 km (USGS, 2015).
The numbers of aftershocks thereafter made people more terrified. The hundreds
of aftershocks were followed by the magnitude of 6.9 Mw on the very
next day at 12:54 pm, epicenter at Dolakha district, damaging most of the
houses. On 12th May, 2015, another aftershock measuring 6.8 Mw
(7.3 magnitudes as per USGS), epicenter near same surrounding of Dolakha
district, toppled the already weakened buildings, triggered landslide,
disturbed the relief efforts and killed hundreds of people (MOHA, 2015).
Furthermore, hundreds of minor aftershocks of magnitude greater than 4.0 were
recorded by the National Seismological Center, Nepal.
Figure 1: Major hit and minor aftershocks
originated on Dolakha district
Consequences of the earthquake and
aftershocks
The
continuous aftershocks, occurring several times a day has hit harder to Dolakha
district and the people.
Key Figures
(UN, 2015)
280,874 Total population
170 People death
87 % Houses fully or partially damaged
50,284 Houses fully damaged
305 Houses partially damaged
27 Health facility completely damaged
23 Health facility partially damaged
69 Schools completely damaged
Figure 2: Earthquake Induced Landslides in Dolakha
District
|
Earthquake Induced Landslide
in Figures (ICIMOD, 2015)
54 Landslides directly affecting the
infrastructures
3 Houses damaged by landslide
3,427 Number of households affected by
landslide
2 Schools affected
by landslide
Mailung affected 2.5 ha (50 ropani) of
cultivated land, 8 tonnes of standing crops, 300m trails and
Landslide 300m of irrigation canal, monetary loss value
of US$ 101,372.
101
km Affected road length
Economic
Loss
(PDNA, 2015)
717 Cottage industry affected
6,057 Total commercial center affected
465 million in NPR economic loss in
services and infrastructures
171 million in NPR economic loss in
industries and commercial centers
Response and relief works in the district
After
the earthquake, lots of human resources involved in response, relief and
humanitarian support programs. Shelter and immediate food assistance were the
initial priorities. But the wide destruction in infrastructures resulted in the
delay of communication as well as access. Several organizations were focused on
quick response and recovery of the affected people. Meanwhile, Government of
Nepal developed 'Post Disaster Need Assessment' report coordinating with
various private sectors, NGOs, INGOs and international partners. Government set
the recovery strategy through the report and the main principle was that the recovery
should follow a people-based approach which encourages consultations with
communities, utilization of social networks, and resilience on local skills and
knowledge. Later on various organizations identified the priorities for
humanitarian interventions as follows:
- Shelter Immediate and long term
- Food Hygienic raw foods and drinking water,
seeds or cash assistance
- Health Sanitation facilities and hygiene kits
- Water Rehabilitation of water sources
There was no any response framework provided by the
government and further there was a delay in preparation of such framework but
most of the organizations had already started working on a community level.
Government later deployed the local leaders to categorize the houses based on
their damage and later government provided ten thousands rupees for each
houses. Further government declared to provide 2 lakhs rupees for completely
damaged houses which were further increased to 3 lakhs a year later. For that
government in coordination with Central Bureau of Statistics conducted 'Data
Collection of Earthquake Affected Houses for Housing Reconstruction Program'
deploying hundreds of engineers in Dolakha district in a first phase of the
program.
Other organizations were already distributing the
basic need items such as: foods and cereals, health kits, clothing, CGI roofing
sheets, tarpaulins, mats, etc. The government initiatives seems worthless to
such initiatives. It was even found that the people were favoring the
organizations instead of government programs.
Response works of various agencies
·
Earthquake Victim Identity Card
distribution by the government through the VDC office after the field visit
from local leaders and government representatives.
·
About 95% populations were identified to
be displaced and not living on their own houses, the nearing monsoon followed
by the winter was the major challenges among majority population of Dolakha
district.
·
RRN, Tuki Sangh, Oselive, Ananta Dhan
Center, Marwadi Samaj Nepal, Local NGOs, Red Cross, WFP, UNICEF, USAID, INGOs,
Indian Government and Korean Government were mentioned to have worked in
Dolakha district but still lot of affected had not received the relief
materials. Later on further more organizations were involved in the work (OSOCC, 2015).
·
Dolakha Shelter Cluster
had planned to distribute CGI or cash for shelter to about 39,700 HHs or 62% of
the estimated HHs in need. Inaccessibility in hard to reach areas coupled with
CGI sheets delayed by customs procedures for some aid agencies has resulted in
delays in the response, and about 40% of the planned distributions were
completed by the end of July (UN, 2015).
·
Nepalese Security Agencies The Nepalese Army has supported
the evacuation of more than 1,300 people by aircraft. Nepal Police and Armed
Police Force were also mobilized quickly after the earthquake for the search
and rescue activities.
·
Plan International
has been working on the response and relief, worked for child protection,
differently able people and education sectors which facilitated over 3 lakhs
populations, educated over 1 lakh populations, built 326 schools and supported
over 35,000 children in education in affected districts, Dolakha is one among
them (PLAN, 2016).
·
Concern Worldwide,
an Irish fund, distributed temporary shelter kits, relief kits and solar lights
in several districts including Dolakha (CONCERN, 2016).
·
Lutheran World Federation
including its partners Dan Church Aid (DCA), Finn Church Aid (FCA), ICOO
Cooperation, LWF, LWR, Christian Aid (CA), FELM, DKH focused their intervention
on Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WaSH), temporary shelter, transitional disaster risk reduction (DRR) emergency
preparedness, psychosocial support, temporary learning centers, early recovery
and livelihood support and construction of permanent shelter (LWF, 2016).
·
Mercy Corps has been distributing solar lights to the affected people
since earthquake (Mercy_Corps, 2015).
·
ASF International has been working on 'Relief Phase: Revive Nepal Project'
and have been providing technical assistance to NGOs and CBOs. It has also
constructed temporary community toilets for disabled people, building
assessment and safety marks, debris management as well as distributed the
safety kits (ASF_Nepal, 2015).
·
HELVETAS
Nepal responded
immediately with relief activities and
its engagement for rehabilitation and reconstruction has resulted into six
projects so far. The major work and achievements of the projects are as follows
(HELVETAS, 2015):
§ Employment Fund’s
Skills for Reconstruction
§ Rehabilitation of
facilities of Earthquake Affected People
§ Economic Recovery of
Earthquake Affected Population
§ Rehabilitation of
Earthquake affected Schools
§ Rehabilitation of
Trail Bridges damaged during earthquake
§ Rehabilitation of
facilities of Earthquake Affected People (REAP)
§ Recovery of
Agricultural Livelihoods (ReAL)
·
USAID
supported
with the medical supplies, emergency shelter and food assistance during the
earthquake and has been working assisting various agencies to develop human
resources through education and training. In coordination with the U.S.
military, the DART leader and USAR personnel conducted aerial assessments of
Dolakha, observing substantial damage and numerous landslides as a result of
the aftershock. USAR
personnel have conducted one live rescue, multiple evacuations, and provided
emergency medical care to more than 20 people in Dolakha’s hard-hit Charikot
and Singati villages. (USAID, 2015).
·
ActionAid managed
and the distributed the relief materials in Dolakha in coordination with two
local partners (ECARDS Dolakha and HURADEC Nepal), local government agencies
and the political parties. The distribution of the relief materials was done
only in two VDCs i.e. Jhyakhu and Lamidada which covered 2,741 households in
total. The relief material consisted of both food as well as the non-food items
(ActionAid, 2015).
·
Save the Children worked
for emergency food assistance, agricultural support, multi-purpose cash grant
and health safety (Save_the_Children, 2016).
References
ACTED. (2015). Dolakha Detailled Needs
Assessment. Paris: ACTED.
ActionAid. (2015). ActionAid
Nepal in Relief for Community Reconstruction. ActionAid.
ASF_Nepal. (2015). ASF
Nepal: Building Back Better. Retrieved July 10, 2017, from ASF
International: http://www.asfint.org/blogs/ASF-Nepal-Building-Back-Better
CBS. (2011). National
Population and Housing Census. Kathmandu: Central Bureau of Statistics.
CONCERN. (2016). Our
Work in Nepal. Retrieved July 7, 2017, from Concern Worldwide:
https://www.concern.net/where-we-work/asia/nepal
HELVETAS. (2015). Response
to Gorkha Earthquake. Retrieved July 10, 2017, from HELVETAS Nepal:
https://nepal.helvetas.org/en/nepal_earthquake.cfm
ICIMOD. (2015). The
Impact of Nepal's 2015 Gorkha Earthquake- induced geohazards. ICIMOD.
LWF. (2016, August
30). Press Room | Nepal. Retrieved July 10, 2017, from Lutheran World
Federation: https://nepal.lutheranworld.org/content/press-room-101
Mercy_Corps. (2015). Solar
lantern distribution. Retrieved July 7, 2017, from Mercy Corps:
http://www.safefuelandenergy.org/where-we-work/project.cfm?p=138
MOHA. (2015). National
Disaster Report. Kathmandu: Ministry of Home Affair.
OSOCC. (2015). Nepal
Earthquake: District Profile - Dolakha. OSOCC.
PDNA. (2015). PDNA
Vol-B: Sector Reports. National Planning Commission.
PLAN. (2016). Nepal
Earthquake Response. Retrieved July 7, 2017, from Plan International:
https://plan-international.org/nepal/nepal-earthquake-response#
Save_the_Children.
(2016). Save the Children’s Earthquake Response in Nepal: A special
one-year progress report. Save the Children.
UN. (2015). District
Profile: Dolakha. UN, Nepal Earthquake Assessment Unit.
USAID. (2015). Nepal
| Disaster Assistance. Retrieved July 10, 2017, from USAID:
https://www.usaid.gov/crisis/nepal
USGS. (2015, April
25). M 7.8 - 36km E of Khudi, Nepal. Retrieved July 8, 2017, from
USGS, science for the changing world:
https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/us20002926#executive
