Response to Earthquake

Our response:  Relief  > Resume > Rebuild

Relief: In response to the recent earthquakes to hit Nepal, volunteers have provided health-relief packages to those in need.  As of May 18th, KG Nepal distributed health packages, tailored to women and children, to over 10,000 families in over 40 locations.

Resume: After earthquakes, it is natural to help out in "Relief".  Yet, we all hope, "Rebuild" will start at some point.  KG Nepal intends to focus on 'Resume' so that we do not get stuck on Relief-aid economy.


Rebuild: A team of engineers and architects were arranged to inspect the schools to see which ones need to be rebuilt.

The “Resuming Schools, Resuming Lives” program focused on the 25 schools in its network with the objective to start the classes as soon as possible.

The activities we took towards this:

• A team of engineers and architects  assessed structural damage to school buildings. 
  

• A team of volunteers ran an Education Camp centrally located and operational every week day.  The camp gave children a chance to play and learn in a safe, child-friendly environment.  It also helped parents to re-start their jobs by providing daily child-care.

After the earthquakes that devastated Nepal, KG is focused on resuming lives of the children in 25 government schools that it has been working with for the last 4-9 years.   Our message is that instead of waiting in fear of another earthquake, or in the hope of another relief truck,
we should start picking up the pieces of our lives -and help others do the same.

Resuming through Education Camp

The earthquakes devastated Kathmandu city, claiming nearly 8,000 lives, injuring thousands and destroying homes and infrastructure. Children have been affected too (both physically and mentally). To somehow help them move past their fear, we organized RESUMING LIVES, RESUMING SCHOOLS camp where children got engaged in Creativity, Action and Service, thus helping them to RESUME their life once again.

Inspecting Schools for Safety

KG is coordinated teams of architects and structural engineers to inspect facilities of the 25 government schools for safety and usability. 

Pictures of camp activities in facebook

How to Help

First and foremost, volunteer to resume your own work.  If you are a student, go to your schools; if you are an employee, go to your work; if you are in business, resume your activities. Only then, if you still have extra energy to share, volunteer in a cause that is close to you heart.

volunteer in the resuming
schools project

Our focus is to resume the network of 29 government schools that KGN has been working with for the last 4-9 years.  The families of the students are from the poorest strata in society.  They also stand the most to lose by loss of daily wages when they have to stay back to take care of children. 

Other Opportunities to Volunteer:

• Relief-Volunteers are currently working to locate the students and their families, and understand their needs at this point.   
  
• Engineer-Volunteers have started inspecting the schools for structural damages to assess building usability.   
  
• Sanitation-Volunteers are working tirelessly to put together  health packets to be included in relief materials for the displaced.

If you can, try to donate (goods are less helpful, as they are less fungible) for any of the grass-root efforts.

Ways to donate

Unless otherwise indicated, your donation will be used towards relief and resume projects by KGNepal.

Fundraising Websites - Crowdrise

To donate using credit card using the crowdrise campaign, be sure to select 0% optional processing fee by clicking "Edit".  

KG's founder Umanga Pandey shares his opinion on how people from different walks of life can help:

1. How you can help the healing process?  Earthquakes will continue to come.  Let us not wait in fear of another aftershock.   Let us calm our nerves, and move ahead resolutely with our daily lives, so that we may restore trust in our capacity to rebuild our lives.
2. Why we should resume lives, and not wait for aid?    If we get  stuck in a relief-aid economy, that will displace the existing market economy.  In contrast, efforts to 'resume' lives will ensure that we reach a healthy rebuilding phase.   We should not suspend our activities or responsibilities in the hope of receiving aid from specialists or relief supplies.   Instead, let us go back to doing what we used to do, before the earthquakes struck.