Attachments
1. BACKGROUND
A magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck Nepal on 25 April 2015. This was followed by several powerful aftershocks, including a major one (7.3 magnitude) on 12 May, 2015. A total of 8,855 people were confirmed dead and a further 22,309 suffered injuries as a result of the earthquakes. 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 missing. 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.
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 including drinking water sources were severely affected with 41 out of the 43 district headquarters 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 7 phase). It was estimated that agriculture loss was about 3 billion Nepali Rupees; and 90% food grains lost.
Sindhupalchowk District is one of the 75 districts of Nepal, with an area of 2,542 Km. The district’s capital and coordination centre is Chautara. It is located in two agro ecological belts of Nepal - hill and mountain - and it is part of the “Central mountain sub-Region”. The assessment team could visit only the hill agro-ecological area where livelihoods system is characterized by agriculture production, livestock rearing and daily labor (mainly unskilled and farm related).
According to leaders and communities in the visited VDCs the key determinants of wealth are: access to cultivable land, livestock possession, and formal employment in private and public sectors and business opportunities.
Almost 100% of the households are involved in agricultural activities, with the poorest socioeconomic groups being seasonally employed by middle and better off groups. Remittance is an income opportunities for all groups generated by temporary or seasonal migration in Kathmandu, Qatar, Dubai, India.
The illiteracy rates in Sindhupalchowk are higher than the national level. Boys are more likely to be educated than girls across all forms of education from primary to post-graduate. Over 59% of the Sindhupalchowk population is Hindu while 38% is Buddhist. There are five major caste groups in the district: Tamang, Chhetree, Newar, Brahmin and Dalits.