Reports
Read more about how funds were spent and how the response to this disaster was evaluated.
Nepal Earthquake
Appeal
Nepal Earthquake
Appeal
The DEC launched an appeal after a huge earthquake shook Nepal in 2015. This appeal is now closed and all funds have been spent.
A man is pulled from the rubble after the Nepal earthquake in April 2015. Image: EPA/Narendra Shrestha
Key achievements
£87 million
raised including £5 million matched by the UK Government
59,000
emergency shelters were distributed
233,000
people gained access to safe drinking water
121,000
people received medical care
On 25 April 2015 Nepal was shaken by a deadly 7.8 magnitude earthquake, the strongest to hit the country in over 80 years. Only two weeks later a 7.1 magnitude earthquake near Mount Everest brought even more destruction.
The two earthquakes that struck Nepal in 2015 were devastating, causing a total of 8,891 deaths and over 22,000 injuries.
Hundreds of thousands of homes were destroyed or damaged leading to the displacement of over 200,000 people.
Infrastructure including health facilities, schools, access roads and places of worship were also destroyed. In total some 2.8 million people were left in need of humanitarian aid.
The DEC’s Nepal Earthquake Appeal raised an enormous £87 million, including £5 million in Aid Match from the UK government.
One of the most urgent needs was temporary shelter, especially as the earthquakes had occurred so close to Nepal’s monsoon season. DEC member charities distributed over 59,000 emergency shelter kits as well as over 100,000 kits for building more durable shelters. Many of these were delivered to people in very remote and difficult to reach areas.
In the aftermath of the earthquakes, people across Nepal were given support to rebuild their livelihoods and help prevent future catastrophes on the same scale. This included the building of 9,000 earthquake-resilient homes, cash grants to set up small businesses which were given to 8000 people and major renovations to water supply systems which provided 68,000 people with safe drinking water.
A temporary learning centre in Nepal set up by CAFOD. Image: Bikash Khadge/Caritas Switzerland/CAFOD
GETTING CHILDREN BACK TO SCHOOL
“When the children came back, they were traumatised and afraid,” explained the headmaster of a school in Sindhupalchok, Nepal. “We suspended classes for five days and ran a special programme with singing and dancing. This helped to calm the children. It helped a lot that students learned in class how to behave in case of an emergency and how to protect themselves from natural disasters.”
Temporary classrooms helped children continue with their education and regain some form of normal life after the trauma of the disaster.
Thanks to generous donations to the DEC’s Nepal Earthquake Appeal 200 temporary classrooms like this one were built.
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