Attachments
To date, this Emergency Appeal, which seeks CHF 5,000,000, is 26 per cent funded (excluding DREF amount of CHF 794,627). Further funding contributions are needed to enable the NRCS with the support of the IFRC, to continue providing humanitarian assistance in the immediate response and provide an integrated recovery approach to the affected population.
Summary of changes made to the operation:
In addition to fulfilling the mandatory criteria of 6-month update, this Operation Update (OU) also provides key information on few changes in activities that will be implemented as part of recovery in affected areas:
• School kits- In April 2024, the IFRC signed a pledge with the Hong Kong Red Cross Branch of Red Cross Society of China to provide school kits to 4,948 school students affected by the earthquake in Jajarkot, Rukum West and Salyan Districts. Assessment reports revealed that students affected by the earthquake lost their education materials. This effort by NRCS aims to encourage school children to continue their education activities and improve their wellbeing, as planned under the Protection, Gender and Inclusion (PGI) sector.
• Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR)- Based on consultations conducted at different levels, from affected communities to the federal level, and considering the possible impact of the upcoming monsoon, DRR has been identified as one of the major areas that needs support from the Red Cross. This support is vital for community preparedness to keep community safe from future disasters of similar or greater intensity.
SITUATION ANALYSIS
Description of the crisis
A 6.4 magnitude earthquake struck Jajarkot District on 3 November 2023 at 11:47 local time. The epicentre was located in Ramidanda in Jajarkot district claiming the lives of 154 people of Jajarkot (101) and Rukum West (53) district and injuring 366 people. As of May 2024, no major aftershocks have been recorded however the impact remained quite challenging as more than 75,000 houses were affected by the earthquake in 10 districts out of which Jajarkot, Rukum West and Salyan districts were badly affected(1). The Government of Nepal has announced an initial relief package of NPR. 200,000 (approximate CHF 1,430) for the families of the deceased along with providing free treatment to the injured.
The impacted households are still residing in the temporary shelter with compromised sanitation facilities. Also, water points have been disrupted resulting in possible water scarcity in the affected districts. In addition to this, people who have lost their family members, and houses are living in fear of earthquakes and might still require psychosocial support especially children who have lost their family members, school material and their school itself have crumbled into rubble. Many of the earthquake-affected areas – including Jajarkot, Rukum, Dailekh, Salyan and Achham – experience significant seasonal labour migration of men, with mostly women and children remaining in local communities. In addition to this, the upcoming monsoon season which is expected to start from mid-June is poising greater risk of flood and landslide in the earthquake-affected areas. It is predicted that this year Nepal will likely experience above-normal monsoon which might result in the rise of humanitarian needs due to increased events of landslides and flooding (Nepal braces for above-normal monsoon this year (kathmandupost.com).
Summary of response
Overview of the host National Society and ongoing response
Nepal Red Cross Society is implementing an IFRC-wide response based on the one plan approach in the affected communities with the support from the IFRC Network with presence in Nepal, including the IFRC Secretariat and five integrated members: American Red Cross, British Red Cross, Canadian Red Cross, Danish Red Cross and Swiss Red Cross. Another 11 IFRC members provide support through the IFRC appeal: American Red Cross, Austrian Red Cross, Finnish Red Cross, German Red Cross, Kong Kong Red Cross Branch of the Red Cross Society of China, Japanese Red Cross, Red Cross of Monaco, Saudi Red Crescent Authority, The Canadian Red Cross Society, The Netherlands Red Cross, Turkish Red Crescent Society, as well as European Commission-DG ECHO.
As of 31 May 2024, NRCS provided emergency assistance (at least one item) to 5,665 families (29,905 people including 15,251 females) supported through the emergency appeal. During this period, 12,701 people (were provided with mental health and psychosocial support services (MHPSS) through community-based MHPSS interventions focused on household visits and orientation sessions. Similarly, NRCS has distributed 9,328 dignity kits to women of reproductive age, 4,500 kishori kits(2) distributed to adolescent girls, and 580 solar lamps distributed to the affected people with support from the IFRC appeal and UNFPA.
In addition, upon the request from the Government, technical volunteers of NRCS were mobilized to digitize shelter data on targeted households in BIPAD Portal of MoHA, in inorder to accelerate fund transfer (first and second instalments) for transitional shelter construction before starting the monsoon rains. A total of 32 technical volunteers (24 are from Jajarkot covering the whole district, six from Rukum West covering NRCS working areas and two in Salyan covering Darma Rural Municipality) have been mobilized. As of 31 May 2024, 32,719 household data (23,860 data of Jajarkot and 4,080 data of Rukum West and 4,779 data of Salyan) have been updated by volunteers in the Portal.
As of May 2024, 35,722 households from Jajarkot (15,820), Rukum West (19,831) and Salyan (71) have completed the construction of temporary shelters with cash support from the Government and other agencies including from NRCS. NRCS provided cash support in two instalments to targeted 600 families from Jajarkot (350) and Rukum West (250). Temporary shelter construction is guided by the Temporary Housing Construction Grant Procedure for Earthquake Affected Household-2023 to expedite the temporary shelter construction process.
All 600 households, targeted in this operation, have received both the two instalments of conditional cash, completed their transitional shelter with toilet and water storage tank and shifted to the transitional shelter. In addition, the district team conducted joint monitoring of the constructed shelter and WASH facilities to ensure the quality and utilization of the constructed structure prior to the release of the second instalment. This has been one of the good efforts that bring the concerned stakeholders together for better service delivery to the community. For IFRC-wide data breakdown, kindly refer to the respective section in Section C.
NRCS conducted health and hygiene promotion activities in the communities reaching out to at least 3,000 people including 1,527 females. Along with this, NRCS distributed 782 hygiene kits to the people affected by the earthquake reaching out to 3,910 people including 1,994 females.
As of May 2024, NRCS distributed multi-purpose cash grants to 4,173 households out of which 600 households selected for transitional shelter cash grants integrated with WASH Support are also included. Out of these, 1,900 households are supported by IFRC multilateral support, and 2,200 households are supported by bilateral support from in-country members (American Red Cross, British Red Cross, Danish Red Cross, Swiss Red Cross). A sum of NPR. 15,000 (approximate CHF 107) was provided to the affected families in one instalment through the bank which they can use as per their need. For IFRC-wide data breakdown, kindly refer to the respective section in Section C.
The NRCS district chapters, with support from UNFPA, provided multipurpose cash support for NPR 8,000 (approximate CHF 57) to 214 pregnant women in Jajarkot and Rukum West in order to support transportation facilities to visit health service centres for regular health check-ups and even for delivery cases to reduce delays in care related to obstetric complications. The targeted pregnant women were identified based on certain selection criteria developed in coordination with the district health office and concerned local authorities.
(1) According to Ministry of Home Affairs (MOHA) report.
(2) Kishori kit contain items for female adolescent – sanitary items, women undergarment etc.