Jajarkot, Rukum
EARTHQUAKE RELIEF

On Monday night, the roads were finally cleared of landslides and today (Tuesday) the first truck with food, blankets and essential goods is on the way to the hit areas. Tomorrow morning the emergency help items will be distributed to those most in need.
Large quantities of sleeping bags (700), jackets (1,700) and hats (700) etc. were purchased / ordered today and will leave Kathmandu tomorrow or the day after tomorrow.
Good news in all this chaos: Our partners from the last earthquake in 2015 are working together with us again – Tom Stuppner and his organisation Friends for Nepal – Himalayan Development Aid. He is also currently in Nepal 🙏.
Team earthquake relief on site: From Surkhet – Meen Rawal and Dhirendra Bham, from Dang: Dinesh Bhagat, from Kathmandu: Kamal Thapa, Sabine Klotz, Tom Stuppner, Priyanka Thakur, Ramita Shrestha, Suresh Basnet, Santosh Silwal, Amit Thapa, Rewant Bhandari

Instead of the planned five hours, our dedicated team reached the remote mountain villages of the earthquake area in the Karnali district after a one-day journey (instead of five hours, it was a whole day’s journey until late into the night due to the wild road conditions). Emergency shelters were set up with the Chay Ya team, and warm blankets, food, tarpaulins etc. were distributed – the most basic necessities of life.
The people affected are members of the Dalit community, who occupy the lowest position within the caste system and are considered the “untouchables”. This means that the natural disaster has affected the poorest of the poor, people who are at the mercy of discrimination and exploitation.
We are incredibly grateful for your donations! They enable us to continue this life-saving aid.
We have received the supplies of sleeping bags, blankets and jackets at the Kathmandu office and tomorrow they will be transported by small truck 15 hours to Surketh and then to the isolated mountain villages.

Our team was also able to distribute blankets, food, tarpaulins etc. to the remaining surrounding villages, providing them with the basic necessities of life. Many houses are still standing, but are badly cracked and can no longer be used for living.
The truck was loaded today in Kathmandu with sleeping bags, warm blankets, jackets, hats etc. and other relief supplies. Just in time for the cold weather, winter with snow is just around the corner.
Our truck will be leaving shortly, it’s 15-17 hours to Surketh, where our team with Meen Rawal and Dipendra are already waiting with food.
Kamal Thapa, CEO of Chay Ya Nepal, is flying to Surketh himself tomorrow to check the situation there and coordinate with the local authorities.

On Friday night, Kamal Thapa was able to receive the truck with jackets, blankets and sleeping bags in Surketh and then, together with the Chay Ya team on site, diligently distributed relief supplies and food throughout the weekend and helped set up emergency shelters. This way another 1000 people could be provided with the most basic necessities. Kamal also met several government representatives, including the mayor of Jajarkot, UNICEF staff and other local NGOs, to coordinate the distribution of the relief supplies in the best possible way. We have also received many official requests for further vital support from all corners of the earthquake zone.
Thank you to all our supporters – so far we have been able to reach over 1,500 people – and as has always been our tradition at Chay Ya, we are specializing in the areas that are so remote that no other aid has arrived. Most of our relief supplies were transported to the forest areas on the backs of the villagers and distributed there. Incidentally, over 80 % of the people reached are Dalits, the so-called “untouchables”, who have always been the poorest section of Nepal’s population.

Chay Ya has already reached 2,250 people with essential supplies such as food, clothing and emergency shelter.

The effects of the earthquake are becoming ever clearer: 208 schools were completely destroyed, 418 severely damaged and 47 health posts were destroyed.

In the week of November 27, a local base was set up in Chaujhari Municipality, West Rukum.

After an arduous journey on Tuesday, November 28th, food, winter jackets, sleeping bags, blankets and tarpaulins were distributed on Wednesday and Thursday. We are incredibly grateful that we were able to reach and help more than 1,255 families (approx. 6,270 people) of earthquake victims in the Nepalese districts of Jajarkot and Rukum in their time of need. Thanks to the generous donations and tireless efforts of the Chay Ya Nepal team, it was possible to provide essential supplies to the people affected by the recent earthquake.

Thank you to all our supporters!

What’s next? Unfortunately, tragically, some people – especially pregnant and breastfeeding women – have already died as a result of the cold. We are now planning to build solar warming rooms. We want to support mothers of newborns and pregnant women in particular.

Pregnant women and nursing mothers were the focus of our last aid campaign: 470 parcels containing pressure cookers, mattresses, warm shawls, thermos flasks and nutritious food were distributed to them in the areas affected by the earthquake to get them through the rest of the winter.