Rapid Assessment RAPID ASSESSMENT REPORT AFTER THE EARTHQUAKES IN NEPAL NEPAL

Transcription

1 Rapid Assessment RAPID ASSESSMENT REPORT AFTER THE EARTHQUAKES IN NEPAL Village Development Committee Of Balkumari District of Nuwakot NEPAL 10 th to 11 th June 2015 Solidarités International Multisectorial assessment team Contact : prog.coo@solidarites-nepal.org, sdp.field.coo@solidarites-nepal.org

2 REPORT CONTENT REPORT CONTENT CONTEXT OF THE ASSESSMENT BALKUMARI VDC PRIORITY NEEDS ACCORDING TO THE POPULATION CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS... 9 The objective of this report is to present the results of the rapid assessment carried out by the Multisectorial Assessment Team of Solidarités International in the remote Village Development Committee (VDC) of Balkumari, after the earthquake in Nepal which took place on 25 th April. 1. CONTEXT OF THE ASSESSMENT On April 25th a 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit Nepal at Bharatpur, 81km northwest of Kathmandu. It is the worst earthquake to have struck Nepal in the last 80 years. On May 12th, three weeks later, a second earthquake measuring 7.4 on the Richter scale hit the country. Very powerful, with its epicenter in the district of Sindhupalchok, and followed by around ten aftershocks, this earthquake was felt as far away as New Delhi. Nuwakot district is one of the 14 most affected districts by the earthquakes, experiencing a great deal of damage and loss. Most of the houses are completely destroyed or badly damaged, and most of the population is still sleeping outside due to the aftershocks which are still continuing today. After assessing and intervening in Sundhupalchok District, SI has decided to launch assessments in the district of Nuwakot, launching the first one in the remote VDC of Balkumari. The objectives were to assess and measure the level of damages, as well as the casualties and needs of the people affected by the earthquakes in this remote area. Wards 3 to 9 have been visited but unfortunately lack of time unabled SI to visit wards 1 & BALKUMARI VDC General information Contact person: VDC Secretary Mr. Nia Bahadur Rana , VDC Technical Assistant Mr. Indra Bahadur Panday Access: By road from Bidur to Samundratar (10 min by foot from Balkumari VDC). Between 3 and 3.5 hours from KTM. One access by car or truck through Chhahare road which conduct on the top of the hill but no wards directly accessible by vehicles (Wards 2 & 3 the closer from the road at 15 min by foot) o 4-wheels-drive cars and motorbike can access to Dhuskun VDC anytime. o Trucks can access to the VDC at the border of ward 2 and 3 from Chhahare road (only 4WD during monsoon season).

3 o Toles 2 are reachable by foot only. Number of Households: around 600 (643 houses according to VDC Secretary technical assistant). Casualties 3 : 8 dead persons, 5 injured Number of Households per ward/ # toles 4 : Ward 1 91 HH /- W2 59 HH /- W3 98 HH / 10 toles W4 27 HH / 5 toles W5 61 HH / 6 toles W6 57 HH / 3 toles W7 76 HH / 3 toles W8 71 HH / 2 toles W9 93 HH / 7 toles Total 643 households Aid received First assistance has been delivered few days after earthquake and has mostly come from VDC government, maybe supplied by external organizations. Beneficiaries came either to VDC Office, either to Samundratar 5. Actors involved and distribution done per household and per ward as following: Actor W1 W2 W3 W4 W5 W6 W7 W8 W9 F, 1T, 1B, F, 1T, 1B, F, 1T, 1B, F, 0.5T, F, 1T, F, 2T, 2B, F, 2T, 2B, VDC not not NPR NPR NPR NPR NPR NPR NPR assessed assessed WHO 1 HK 1 HK 1 HK 1 HK? 1HK 1HK Indian NGO F, 1T, 1B F = food, T= Tarpaulin, B= blanket, M= mat, HK = hygiene kit Shelter: Most of the households received 1 tarpaulin from VDC offices. 2 wards (8and 9) benefited of 2 tarpaulins for each HH (Tamang communities). Food: Every household received 25 kg of rice from the VDC Office. We have no details on the quantities distributed from the other actors. NFI: The households of wards 3, 4, 5 received 1 blanket. Households from wards 8 & 9 received 2 blankets. WASH: No aid received yet regarding hard outputs (toilets, water supply). One hygiene kit was distributed with items focusing mostly on personal hygiene items (toothbrush, toothpaste, soaps). Health: Drugs are provided only by DHO to health posts. Sector Items Ward 1 Ward 2 Ward 3 Ward 4 Ward 5 Ward 6 Ward 7 Ward 8 Food 6 rice, dal &oil Shelter Tarpaulin Shelter bundle of jasta 1 1 NFI Mat 3 2 NFI Blanket Hygiene 7 hygiene kit village 3 Data from Health Post 4 Data from VDC Office, toles number from villagers and SI MSA team 5 Closest city (Samundratar VDC) from Balkumari VDC 6 # of food distribution 7 No standard kit, it could contain soap at least and sometimes buckets, toothbrush

4 Shelter NFI Destruction: The estimation of the VDC secretary is that 90% of the houses are destroyed or damaged/unsafe. Assessment team observations confirmed that more than 90% of the households have built temporary shelter (also named cottage) in order to be protected from new aftershocks. Movement of population: No movement of population in the VDC. Temporary shelters have been built with a patchwork of reusable CGI tins, tarpaulin and sometimes additional gundri. Superstructure is often a mix between wood timbers and bamboos. Saved and reusable CGI tins are between 10 and 20 in average per rebuilt shelter. The main concern of villagers regarding CGI tins is about the fact that it cannot be waterproof during monsoon as nail holes are spread on the different tins. In addition, tins are also used for peripheral walls. There are no standard dimensions as each shelter depends on the land available, but the average surface is around 20 m² (at least 5 m long). An additional shadow area stands usually beside the shelter for animals/livestock and can be set with one of the tarpaulin pieces distributed. Loss of NFI or tools varies between 15 & 50% for the most affected households. Average loss is around 35% as follows: Ward Loss of NFI n/a n/a 50% 40% 40% 45% 40% 15% 15% It is important to notice that people hold in average 3 to 4 water containers per household. Cooking material is mostly available. Water WASH Water need in normal life is between 150 and 200 liters/days/household (including their domestic animals 8 ). Ward 1: non assessed Ward 2: non assessed Ward 3: Before EQ, villagers of this ward said they got more or less 2 springs supplying water per tole. After EQ, only one spring per tole is still working (the 2nd ones disappeared in crack/hole). The assessment team observed that yield/water flow is really slow due to less spring as well as many leakages on pipelines. It is usual that the water flow gets reduced during dry season but the loss of 50% of water sources increases a lot the issue of water access. Springs catchment are never protected and the combination of EQ consequences (dust) with dry season issues decrease the water quality. Water turbidity has increased a bit and water became tasty. Wards 4/5: assessed together. Springs are usually between 50 m and 300 m far away from toles. Only 8 pipes are currently supplying water out of the 20 supplying water before EQ. Quality of water decreased a bit according to villagers (increase of turbidity): springs are never protected. Water quantity remains good according to the people met. 8 Cows, buffalos, goats

5 Ward 6: Good water access (1 tap/house in Kshetri). Springs are usually 15 min far away. The main problem is mostly due to the total absence of drainage at the fetching points, letting stagnant water in many places. It impacts consequently environmental hygiene, which can lead easily to waterborn diseases. Ward 7: 1 spring / tole. Springs are close from toles. Yield is good and consequently, water quantity is fine. No storage tank (pipes directly from the spring to villages). No change of quality after EQ Ward 8-9: 9 to 10 springs in use in the 2 wards. The quantity of water has decreased after EQ and is not enough according to villagers. This is also probably due to leakages on pipes. New spring catchments are possible. There is no storage tank between the spring and "tap" and the lack of connectors between pipes leads many leakages. As already there is less water due to dry season, storage tanks as well as revision of pipelines are really needed. Children of these wards are highly affected by waterborn skin diseases, due to lack of water and lack of hygiene awareness. # Ward # HH Toles # Taps n/a n/a 2 59 n/a n/a n/a General comments: Wards 3, 4, 5 as well as wards 8 and 9 have been highlighted by WSSDO 10 as well as Balkumari VDC Technical Assistant as a priority regarding water supply, sanitation and hygiene. Findings of our assessment in these wards confirm that their situation is bad regarding WASH and requires assistance on both short (water supply, emergency sanitation) and long term (hygiene awareness, durable water and sanitation facilities). According to the villagers, monsoon is one of the factors decreasing water quality. People are expecting an increase of turbidity, as runoff water will load dust and contaminate unprotected springs. Water quality, even if mentioned as good from villagers, is contaminated in general: 10 samples were collected from the 7 assessed VDC, and all of the 10 samples showed coliforms presence through H2S water tests. There are no formal water committees but we always met people in every location who are used to fix problem on water network. But as they don t use adequate material, they can fix it only temporary. However, very few leakages have been fixed since EQ. 9 Not tape but pipe : no closing system 10 Water Supply and Sanitation Direction Office based in Bidur

6 Sanitation Unlike Sindhupalchok district, Nuwakot district was not ODF 11 before EQ. The main implemented latrine design in the villages was toilet built with stones or concrete blocks and a single pit equipped with siphon system. The destruction of existing toilets in the VDC varies from 50 to 100% depending on the villages with at least 90% average. Places/practices of defecation vary depending of toilets availability: when people still have toilets (at least usable pit and slab), they usually share it with 2 to 5 relative families. These damaged toilets have been lightly rehabilitated. More than 50% of the households go to open defecation, either with a very temporary hole dug in their land, either in the fields. Local materials (stone, bamboo, leaves and wood) are available and could be used for building temporary latrines but people are not expressing latrines as a priority issue/need, except in Ward According to Health Post in Charge, diarrhea is the main disease (more than 60% of the outpatients) and the cause is probably linked to the lack of toilets/open defecation as well as decrease of good hygiene practices. He raised again risk of important increase of diarrhea cases during monsoon due to open defecation. Ward # HH # Toles % family toilets before EQ # toilets dammaged #HH/toilet when Temp toilets 1 91 n/a n/a n/a n/a 2 59 n/a n/a n/a n/a % 50% % 90% % 90% % 90% % 100% % 100% % 100% 5 When existing toilets remain usable, or when temporary toilets are built, people accept to share it in general with relatives from same community. Hygiene All the households have at least one soap. They said that soap is mostly available locally in small shop not too far. Knowledge about good practices is difficult to appreciate, but most of the communities said that they have worse hygiene practices since the EQ: o Some people restarted open defecation practices; o Some of them raised the lack of water; 11 Open defecation free 12 Community meeting has been conducted with women only (men were mostly working on the fields at this time), which can explain why this need is expressed as the first one. This is to take into consideration for the other area, as MSA team couldn t organize focus group with women only.

7 o Environmental hygiene can be very low due to the narrow space remaining for household, leading people living very close from animals Wards 3, 4, 5, 8, 9 are very affected by a lack of good hygiene behavior: most of the children seen got important skin diseases. In addition, it has been observed that children s clothes were very dirty. Water containers are available in almost all the households (buckets, metallic jar, drums) and are clean mostly. Average number of water container is 3 to 4 per family. Livelihood Agriculture and livestock are the main source of income for the people of Balkumari VDC. Cultivation of corn (main crop) millet, and rice. Their dependence of the market is between 3 to 9 months a year. They feed their production at least 6 month a year. Milk production for family use but not for selling. Loss of food stock, seed stock can vary a lot depending on the wards: Ward # HH # Toles Loss of NFI Loss of food Loss of seeds Loss of livestock field destruction 1 91 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 2 59 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a % 50% 50% 10% 0% % 50% 50% 20% 0% % 50% 50% 20% 0% % 30% 30% 10% 0% % 75% 90% 15% 10% % 20% 20% 10% 0% % 20% 20% 10% 0% average 35% 42% 44% 14% 1% Food does not seem to be a big issue for the short term, but most of the wards expressed need of food in 2nd priority. Fields are mostly in good statement. The stock of seeds for the coming agriculture season is not always enough: population is expecting the support of the Agriculture Development Office from Bidur to get new seeds, or they plan either to buy, either to borrow some. Health One Health Post is still working in the Ward 6 with a team of 2 staffs: one in charge who is community medical assistant as well, and a second CMA 13. There is officially 1 volunteer health assistant per ward, and 13 Community Medical Assistant

8 Health Post was holding with them a monthly meeting before EQ. But it doesn t seem to be always known by the population. Health Post is frequented by villagers from wards 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9. Wards 1, 2 and 7 are closer from Samundratar Health Post. Pregnant women are mostly going to Samundratar clinic to deliver. Health Post building is totally destroyed: staffs are now using a single tent without water storage and toilets or any other facilities. Health Post remains supported by DHO 14 regarding drugs supply but staffs said that availability is limited. According to the HP in charge, daily outpatients were about 2 per day before the earthquake, and are now about 5 to 6. Main disease is diarrhea which represents 3 to 4 cases out of 6 outpatients. According to the HP in charge, diarrhea is coming from the lack of sanitation and the increase of open defecation in communities. Diarrhea cases should increase during monsoon as water quality 15 will decrease with more turbidity and people got back to open defecation. According to HP in charge, safe hygienic behavior is something known but not always applied: he indicated us to appreciate the situation in Wards 8 and 9 where people get unsafe hygienic practices. 3. PRIORITY NEEDS ACCORDING TO THE POPULATION Ward Need 1 Need 2 Need 3 1 n/a n/a n/a 2 n/a n/a n/a 3 Water Food 4 Water Food Electricity 5 Water Food Electricity 6 School rehab Water 7 Toilets Shelter 8 Shelter Food Water 9 Shelter Food Water Priority needs are different according to the wards visited. But water and food are the main sectors mentioned by villagers. 1. WATER SUPPLY: Water supply and water quality is the main concern of villagers in wards 3, 4, 5. They need more and better water. Even if it has not been mentioned as first priority, water was also mentioned by wards 8 and 9, and VDC technical assistant highlighted it as a main issue when we met him before field assessments. 2. FOOD: 14 District Health Office 15 Water is already contaminated according to bactoscope tests

9 Food is mentioned as a need in most of the assessed Wards (3, 4, 5, 8, 9). Dry season is longer than expected and villagers are concerned by the harvesting which is delayed this year. In addition, they received food donation for a month quickly after first EQ, but quantities were really smaller than in Sindhupalchok district in comparison. 3. SHELTER: Most of the people have already rebuilt a temporary cottage with CGI tins they gathered on their damaged houses. We saw in some cases people who bought new CGI tins in Samundratar (for wards 1, 2, and 7). In the most remote wards (8 and 9), people expressed the need of CGI tins as first need: according to them there are still people sleeping out and several households sharing the same shelter. These two wards were less equipped with CGI tins before EQ and were also using thatched for roof, which is not anymore reusable. 4. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS Resiliency seems to be important in this VDC, due to their remote statement. However, this VDC includes a large part of Tamang communities which are usually poorer and have less access to accessible land. Consequently, they are located in the most remote wards (3, 4, 5, 8, 9) Shelter It is necessary to support households from wards 8 and 9 in temporary shelter reconstruction. The others didn t receive any support neither, but didn t ask for. Water Water is contaminated in the whole VDC due to absence of protected springs and equipped waterpoints. Strangely, diarrhea is not a massive disease at this time, but could increase as people go back to open defecation and monsoon should also carry dirty water in unprotected springs. Priority wards to assist are wards 3, 4, 5, 8, 9. Piyush distribution is necessary until the monsoon ends. Sanitation Balkumari VDC wasn t ODF before EQ. Toilets coverage varied from 20 to 100% according to the wards, with an average of 50%. There are now less than half of these toilets still usable. Sanitation support at household level is mandatory with a priority focus on wards 3, 4, 5, 8, and 9. Shared toilets are feasible with families belonging to same community. Hygiene Hygiene (personal, environmental) seems to be the main issue in Balkumari VDC, not due to a lack of soap or water container, but because of lack of water, lack of latrines, lack of space and livestock management, and unsafe hygienic behavior. Hygiene awareness should be implemented where SI will intervene in water and sanitation with an important focus on wards 3, 4, 5, 8, and 9.

10 Livelihood Villagers lost an important part of their seeds stock (44% in average). They need and expect support from Agricultural development office based in Bidur. Health No more health post infrastructure and facilities. WASH facilities as well as improved shelter in health posts are mandatory for outpatient as well as medical staffs.

11

12 Contact list and GPS data: Ward Tole GPS (dd mm.mmm') Tole representative Contact # 3 Gole refer to file Balkumari VDC.kmz openable with GoogleEarth Aryam Tamang Tamang Ranjen Lama Melanchi Buddimaya Tamang Tsing Garble Chandra Bahadur Tamang Choho Bangari Baluwaje Hille Pakha Tallo Bhangeri 4 Mijar refer to file Balkumari VDC.kmz openable with GoogleEarth Krishna Bahadur Lama Lama Jhakri May Pande scattered houses 5 Danda Suresh Lama Surya Danda Lho Devadhan Mangsang 7 Bhangyang Dhusini Khatiwada refer to file Balkumari VDC.kmz openable with GoogleEarth Gairi scattered houses refer to file Balkumari VDC.kmz openable with 6 Bhawandanda/Salle GoogleEarth Surya Bahadur Lho Kshetri Dilip KC refer to file Balkumari VDC.kmz openable with GoogleEarth Shova Pandey Nigale refer to file Balkumari VDC.kmz openable with GoogleEarth Suresh Tamang Archale 9 Lama Jivan Tamang Titung Baru Manibhangyang Panero Kami Padhero

13 Temporary Health Post after EQ (Ward 6) Destroyed Health Post after EQ Destroyed houses in Bhangyang tole (Ward 7) Pipeline from the spring in Gairi tole (Ward 4) Unprotected spring in Gairi tole (Ward 4)

14 Water point in Padle tole (Tamang community), Ward 8