As the alarm went off this morning, I reached for my cellphone to turn it off. As I did so, I saw an unusual number of notifications so, I instantly knew something was wrong. Just one message about an earthquake in Nepal was sufficient to send me in panic mode and reach for my laptop. Within a few seconds, I saw scores of stories and headlines from international media sources and my fear heightened. I reached for my cellphone again and looked through several missed calls, messages from viber, whatsapp and emails from friends who were concerned about my family in Nepal. It was the complete opposite of how I had imagined my morning. I had planned to wake up early and go backpacking in Pedernales Falls State Park with members of Sierra Club. I had packed the night before for the camping trip and was ready to go in the morning.
As I kept browsing through the news stories and images on Twitter, I was shocked by the magnitude of devastation that had occurred. Many historic buildings were leveled and several roads had been cracked open with fissures that ran several feet wide and deep. It is commonly understood that the buildings in Kathmandu are poorly built and are highly prone to earthquakes. The fact that they lack adequate egress pathways, easements between buildings and earthquake shelters makes the matters worse. Despite knowing it all, the residents and the government have ignored these risk factors. Kathmandu valley and Nepal as a whole has to suffer consequences of poor urban planning, lack of enforcement of building codes and risk mitigation. In these difficult times, instead of finding faults in policy implementation, let us look at how we can provide relief to earthquake victims of Nepal. The approach depends whether you are in Nepal or outside Nepal.
If You are in Nepal
1. Volunteer to assist with rescue efforts
Reach out to local groups who are conducting rescue operations and assist them in removing rubble to save more lives ASAP. Nepal Red Cross Society (NRCS) may be a good starting point if you are unsure of other organizations in your area. Check out Nepal Society For Earthquake-Technology Nepal (NSET) page for partner organizations. Also check out their Facebook page for updates.
2. Donate Blood
There are several calls on Twitter to donate blood. NRCS has set up solar powered blood donation facility in Kathmandu. Other hospitals such as Nepal Hospital & Research Center (4476225) and Norvic Hospital (42585534) are also requesting for blood donations. Also check out a Google spreadsheet Blood Bank Earthquake Nepal 2015 that has a listing of blood group types needed for earthquake victims in Nepal.
3. Volunteer to Provide Specialized Service
If you are a doctor or have specialized skills pertaining to disaster relief, volunteer to assist rescue efforts. India has dispatched a team of National Disaster Response Force to Nepal, which is really amazing, given how India is usually criticized for late response(s).
4. Financial Support
If you cannot support rescue efforts in person, you could assist in extending relief to earthquake victims by making financial contributions to local or global organizations. If you are unsure of which organization(s) to make donations to, see below for my recommendations.
If You are Outside Nepal
1. Financial Support
Whether you are a Nepali or not, you can have the same impact on disaster relief through your donations. The biggest worry of donors is, “How do I know my funds are going to be used for disaster relief to the victim(s)?” That is the same question I have been asking myself after I got to thinking how I can help. Several of my friends and other organizations have setup their own indiegogo or gofundme pages, which is great. The question is: where are these funds going to go ultimately?
There are several international organizations that are being recommended on various websites such as Mashable and Huffington Post. However, international aid organizations have global operations and how would a donor be assured that the funds would go directly towards earthquake relief in Nepal? So, I started looking for local organizations who are conducting rescue efforts. Surprisingly, there is not much Internet traffic and presence of local organizations. Nepal Red Cross Society stood out because it is also a partner organization with Nepal Society For Earthquake-Technology Nepal. I checked profiles of all notable local and global relief organizations on charitynavigator to ensure most of the funds go towards projects and services instead of administrative and other overhead costs. Below I have noted one local and other global organizations with percentage of revenue that goes towards programs and services. The URLs will take you directly to their donation pages if you choose to make donations.
Special Note to US Donors: Please donate to 501c(3) registered organizations so that your donations will not be taxed.
Local (501c(3) registered)
Nepal Red Cross Society – 97.2% [their website is down at the time of writing].
Global (501c(3) registered)
Oxfam America – 77.3%
CARE – 88.5%
Save The Children – 90.9%
Global Giving – 97.2%
Local – Unrated
Nepal Earthquake Relief Fund by America Nepal Medical Foundation. This one is also 501c(3)
Help Nepal Earthquake Relief Efforts by Shikshya Foundation
Global – Unrated
2. Visit or Return to Nepal for Post-Disaster Relief
Currently, the only international airport in Nepal, which is in Kathmandu is closed. However, it is open only for disaster relief activities. Once the victims obtain immediate relief, you may visit or return to Nepal for assisting in post-disaster long-term relief activities. The impoverished nation of Nepal will need extensive rebuilding efforts to repair its infrastructure, rebuild historic monuments, restore historic sites and reconstruct homes.
Additional Resources
- Google has launched a Person Finder Tool to locate missing individuals in Nepal’s Earthquake.
- Earthquake Report.com has live updates with images and technical information on seismic activities.
- An unknown author has created a Google spreadsheet Nepal Earthquake Fundraising Campaigns with tabs that list organizations and individual funding campaigns. This is one of the best comprehensive online resource floating around the web.
- Another Google spreadsheet, Blood Bank Earthquake Nepal 2015, with listing of blood group types needed for earthquake victims in Nepal. Again, I am not sure of the author.
- CNN has also created, How To Help Victims of the Nepal Earthquake, a comprehensive list of organizations that are conducting relief and rescue operations in Nepal.
- One of my friends from school has written a similar post on How to Support Nepal’s Relief Effort.
Assist those in need in anyway you can. If you have questions or suggestions about additional content that might be useful to include here, please email me at thedigitalsubway at gmail.com