Following the massive earthquake that struck Nepal on 25th April, Arup immediately mobilised a Disaster Response Team (DRT) to coordinate our response. The earthquake has had a devastating impact which to date has seen over 8600 people killed. Humanitarian agencies estimate some 2.8 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance with over 860,000 people in immediate need due to loss of shelter, limited road access and poverty. Arup staff, Rory McGowan and Kubilây Hicylimaz, have been working out in Nepal as part of the relief effort, providing technical support to the World Bank and NSET who are assisting the Government of Nepal to develop a strategy and implementation plan for damage assessment. And Andy Kervell is currently in Nepal working with MapAction to collate and provide vital information in mapped form to responders and donors, from data gathered at the disaster scene. In the meantime, Arup continues to receive requests from other humanitarian organisations asking for experienced staff to be deployed in Nepal in a variety of roles as part of the humanitarian response, ranging from damage assessments, WaSH and shelter to logistics and project management.
Arup has provided an immediate donation to RedR-UK and our staff are raising funds to support their work with RedR India and RedR Australia to respond to the Nepalese earthquake. Members are on the ground assisting with emergency shelter, water and sanitation and other life-saving activities. RedR’s needs assessment in the area has highlighted skills gaps in some technical areas and with the funds raised from their appeal, RedR will be providing training and mentoring to the NGOs in the region to address this. RedR's response will not only help Nepal recover from this devastating disaster, but will build the capacity and resilience of the country long-term.
Staff are also finding ways to help remotely. Over 50 Americas and UKMEA staff have participated in the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) and the Missing Maps Project helping to map some of the affected areas Nepal. Detailed mapping helps rescue and humanitarian workers to coordinate information about the damages and needs of communities affected by the earthquake. Our staff joined more than 3,600 other volunteers and in the first three days after the earthquake, mappers had added more than 13,199 new miles of roads and 110,681 new buildings to the map.
Please help us to make a difference by donating money and sharing the donation links with your networks. Funds are urgently required to provide emergency supplies and send more experts into Nepal to assist with the response.
You can make a donation at the RedR-UK pages here http://www.redr.org.uk/en/Donate/nepal.cfm