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18 May 2015

An ACHR - CAN team will be going to Nepal to join Lumanti and communities from 31 May to 9 June.

Below are some notes from NAD (CAN) in preparation for the visit.

Lumanti have made initial  surveys with 12 communities and have found priority emergency need for temporary shelters.

Total numbers of temporary shelters that are needed now for the 12 communities is 660 units.
Lumanti has already organised and supported communities to build 160 units in 8 communities.

It needs to build 500 units more in the 12 communities.
One temporary shelter costs around 25,000 Nrp.[8,200 Baht or $425 USD]

A report update on the work of Lumanti. can be read here. This 3 page report gives a brief bacckground on the quake; the towns and communities where the efforts are  / will be concentrated; and detail of the temporay housing asssistance to be supported.
And some photos of the communities.

If you wish to donate support please go here for details.
 

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12 May 2015
Another Strong Earthquate
Again a strong EQ of 7.1 (?) was felt this afternoon at 12.56 pm local
time.  A  violent move of the mother earth.  This terror of tremor has
not ended. The remaining old houses also collapsed. People are scared
and tonight people are planning to stay out in the open space.

We are fine, so as the staff members and volunteers of Lumanti.  Some
of the staff and volunteers were in the communities supporting
constructions and assessment when EQ happened.  They managed to escape
safely.  People in the communities in Kathmandu are also safe.

Will write more tomorrow.

Regards

Lajana,, Lumanti Kathmandu
 

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EXTRA:    More updates can be seen at  FACEBOOK  page of Lumanti Support Group for Shelter
https://www.facebook.com/lumanti.shelter
 

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Wan S. Sophonpanich: Community Architect from Thailand, working with international relief in Nepal, is also posting interesting updates on her FaceBook page HERE
 

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7th Update  8th May 2015

Community Rises: post quake scenario


Lumanti Support Group for Shelter
8th May 2015

Community Led Temporary Shelter Construction in Thaiba, Lalitpur

Aftershocks have not stopped.  Terror remains in the eyes of the men, women and children.  But community has started rising.  There is a lot to be done.    Fully   destroyed  houses.  Upper  half destroyed houses.  Lower part destroyed houses. 


 Houses  with  shattered walls.  Cracked houses.  A perfectly  fine looking houses but having structural problems.  Houses with  red stickers (sticked by the government technical officials after damage assessment) meaning not fit for living.  An isolated safe house surrounded by a number of unsafe houses.  And there are hundreds of families, the owners of these destroyed and 'not fit of living' houses' who have become homeless a minute after the big earthquake on 25th April 2015.   Fourteenth days after the quake, the emerging biggest challenge is arranging a temporary shelter for them.  The situation is complex, and the best way to find the solution for this complex problem seems lying in the community with the people themselves.  A women only saving and credit cooperative in Thaiba, Lalitpur, , found a shed meant for raising chickens to be used as a temporary shelter to housethe affected families.  Partition was made by the local masons to make a room for each family, for 8 families. 

 Oh!  at least eight families in Thaiba have a better shelter today.  Better than tarpulins.  Tarpulin was distributed as an emergency shelter to the affected families.  But tarpaulins cannot save people from heavy rain and safety, as monsoon is approaching   fast and theft has been an issue in the open tents.  People are desparate to have temporary shelters, long before they can think and plan for long term reconstruction.
Lumanti gave the women's cooperative all the support they needed at this difficult hours; moral, financial and technical including access to market to purchase the construction materials.  With this support they were able to provide shelters for 8 families in a day, today!  The families who were going to live there, masons and other volunteers worked together to make these shelters ready.  Even before giving the final touch to the completion of the shelters, people carried their belongings and moved to these rooms. .. It started raining outside.  I am thinking of those hundreds of thousands who are living under the tarpaulins will have such a hard time in passing the night!  Such a great need to speed up  the process of construction of temporary shelters.  It is also amazing how fast the communities are moving despite all odds.  Tomorrow, 15 more families will be housed in the temporary shelters in Thaiba, meaning completion of the construction of 15 more homes! 

         


Top Left: Chicken Pens turnd into temporary shelter.

Top Right Home-sweet Home

​Bottom Left: Women mud-plastering the floor





 

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EXTRA:    More updates can be seen at  FACEBOOK  page of Lumanti Support Group for Shelter
https://www.facebook.com/lumanti.shelter

Lumanti, in partnership with Community Women Forum and the local Women Cooperatives, is implementing Emergency Relief Program in 13 old settlements in Kathmandu Valley.  

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6th Update  4th May 2015

Relief Support:    Women find effective ways  of managing food distribution
Lumanti Support Group for Shelter
4th May 2015
The visit to the communities in Machhegoan, Thankot, Khokhona, Siddhipur, Thaiba, Thecho and talking with the affected families, the first priority of the families right now is FOOD!! They had other organizations supporting them for food for the last week but the stock has coming to an end.
We talked with the community based Women's Saving and Credit Cooperatives and community organizations. It was decided in the meetings that Lumanti provide them with monetary support, they will use the money to buy the necessary relief support and distribute them to the families who actually need them.
The mechanism used by most of the groups is as follows.

1. The groups have conducted a preliminary survey of the affected families and have noted the things which are priority for them right now.
2. FOOD was the priority at the moment.
3. The relief support provided by Lumanti was used for purchasing the supplies of the needed families.
4. Then the community organization visited each camp site where at least 5 to 10 families are settled and gave the relief items to them.
5. The food supply is for a week for now. The Items purchased are 1. Rice 2. Daal 3. Tea. 4. Oil and sugar.
6. Other supplies purchased are medicines.
7. Focus of the relief distribution are for the families who have lost everything and do not have any home to go back to  and were not able to salvage any of their things from their collapsed houses.
8. The preparation food is done in groups and the families in camps. And they themselves are responsible for management.
9. The community cooperative themselves have contributed from their own funds to support their communities.
10. Some groups also used coupon system. First, the coop members visit the camps and provide coupons to the families in need.  Special attention was also given to women and children.  Then, these families collect food supply for the Coop office.  This arrangement was well appreciated by the beneficiaries and no conflict arose. 

 

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5th Update  4th May 2015

Lumanti supports to build temporary shelter in Panga, Machhegaon and Thaiba
4^th May' 2015
Shaili Manandhar, volunteer in Lumanti

Today I visited Panga, Machhegaon and Thaiba with the team from Lumanti.  I feel very sad to see all the destruction.  In all the three communities,, Panga, Machhegaon and Thaiba, the topic of discussion between the Lumanti team and the communities was about temporary housing.  The previous visits and meetings had focused on providing relief materials such as food and medicines, but today it was on temporary shelter.  It was agreed that the first preference for temporary shelter will be given to people who have lost everything and no other safe houses or properties.  People also agreed to coordinate with the municipalities for  land and construction.   I felt the community people were very co-operative, true and did not demand for anything more than what they really required. They just needed a little motivation and support from Lumanti and they looked quite confident with what they are going to do – building a home for themselves.
The following two solutions were brought up for immediate action. 

1.  Rental support
    Per room        - Rs. 1500 per month

   Rs. 18000 for 12 months

 

1. Build low cost temporary shelter

In Panga, the property to build these low cost houses is given by an individual for 1 year for affected families. These temporary  shelter will have the following facilities:


Single room row housing with 12x10 size
Open Kitchen
Shared toilet and bathroom
Build 10 house in the initial phase


Tentative estimated cost (NRs) and material required for one unit of temporary shelter
 
Corrugated Sheets                     = 10,000           ( Note: 1US$ = approx 100 Nepalese Rupees )
Bamboo                                   =   1,000
Vehicle (to transfer materials ) =   3,000
Wage for workers                                 =   6,400       [(600 + 1000) * 6 days]
Total Cost                                           = 20,400       (20,000 per house)
 
Estimation for 10 houses         = 2 lakhs           ( Note a Lakh is equalto 100,000 )
Advance given                         = 1 lakh
 
The estimations for Machhegaon and Thaiba were somewhat the same. Whereas, for Macchegaun people have their own properties to build temporary houses and they have demanded slightly more than the other two areas as these houses will be independent units and sharing walls.  Therefore it was agreed at NRs 22,000 per house construction, and as majority of people have lost their houses in Macchegaun, they have demanded to build 20 houses immediately that sums up the total to 4 lakhs 40 thousand. Advance of 2 lakhs was given today.  Technical people from Lumanti will visit these areas tomorrow to support them in planning and designing. 
 
The community people looked very positive with Lumanti's approach. They also expressed high levels of appreciation and gratitude for the initiative – encouragement, help and support.  I also felt very happy, because people who have lost everything will have a house in few days!
 


4th Update  4th May 2015
Updates on response to post earthquake disaster


2nd  / 3rd May 2015

• We attended a meeting organized by the Insulate Dry Wall Udyog Pvt. Ltd this morning and also observed a prefab house built for demonstration.  This demonstration was built  before the quake hit the country.  Today it stands still without any scratch.    A 10 x 12 single room pre fab house costs about Rs. 900,000  and a house half of this size costs about Rs. 400,000.  Although it seems good for transit housing, but cost is quite high.  We will be exploring if this cost can be brought down. 

 

• With the financial support from Lumanti, Machhegaon cooperative distributed food support to 62 households in Machhegaon, 20 HHs in Adhikary gaon and Taukhel.    The Coop members visited affected households / families and distributed coupons for collection of relief (food items) at the Coop office.  The food items included rice, dal, sugar, salt and oil. Similarly Siddhipur and Thecho coops also distributed food items.  The system of coupons was well appreciated by the beneficiaries and no conflict arose in distribution of relief goods. 

 
Panga is also raising fund at the local level to support Rs. 5000 to those households who have lost their family member in this quake, and the support is to observe local death ritual. 
 
Lumanti and Kalimati vegetable coop distributed vegetables in 5 affected  areas. 
 

• Panga Coop had started filtering of the families interested in temporary shelters to be built in the 2 acres of land to be provided by two individuals  ( 1 acre each).  Similarly, Thaiba community has also started identifying families ready to move in a temporary shelter.  

 

• We visited Gokarna area.  Ward 9, 10 and 11 were severely affected.  Six people lost life and 3 injured in gokarna.  57 houses found to be completely damaged .  They had not received relief yet.  We provide Rs. 65000 to the saving and credit group in the presence of the representative from ward citizen forum for providing food to the affected families for a week.

 
 

• We also visited Sankhu, the worst affected old town in the Kathmandu district.  One hundred people lost their lives and all types of houses were destroyed in Sankhu.  a very very sad picture exists there.    A women's home based workers group called Srijanshil Shramik Mahila Samuha  was provided support to provide food for affected 40 families. 

 

• It was reported that the number of people living in the tents slowly decreased in a number of camps in different areas.  This is an indication that soon demand for temporary shelter will rise.  We discussed on the four possible areas of engagement in providing temporary shelters: 1) maintenance of damaged houses 2) rental support 3) construction of temporary shelters 4) training to the builders / masons 5) Assessment of the damaged houses

 

• We also joined Oxfam to do the initial assessment in Khokana and Bungamti.  focus grou discussion held and  interviews taken of the key people ffrom community.  this information will be used in designing the water and sanitation support to the communities in the next one month.

 

• Through Thankot  Coop two sets of toilet was provided to get installed at Tamang Basti Thankot.   

 

• Request made to SSP in India to look for solar lamps.  As many quake hit areas are in dark, solar lamp will be very useful for them. 

 

• We also visited a number of informal settlement in Kathmandu.  The highest hit settlement seemed to be Mandikatar  with the complete damage of 25 houses.  Some minor damages reported in other settlements. 

 

• Lumanti joined the initiation of Nepal Engineers Association in assessing the damage of the households, and contributed by leading  of team of few technical people and assessed the damages in the houses. 

 

• We discussed and prepared a proposal to submit to OCHA for support in the construction of temporary shelter, mainly in Kathmandu valley. If we have adequate support, we are aiming to reach out 2500 families  and work with them to construct temporary shelters. 

 

• We also made a briefing on housing initiatives in partnership with the communities  to the group of young volunteers who have raised fund but trying to get information and ideas  on the best possible way to support people rebuild  their lives and homes.  

 

• We coordinated with the communities to do preparations for the construction of temporary shelters.  As a result the cooperatives are in constant touch with the ward committees, ward citizen forum and political parties in finalizing land to build temporary homes  and having meetings.  People are ready in Thaiba and Panga,  Most probably we will be starting the construction work tomorrow in Thaiba. 

 
We will be working in all these areas with a vision for building  long term permanent houses /communities.
 
Photos from Tokha, Gokarna and Thecho


 

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3rd Update 1st May 2015

Updates on response to post earthquake disaster
 

• Damages in the informal settlements:  Nepal Mahila Ekta Samaj reported on the impact of the earthquake in the informal settlements in Kathmandu.  Details  provided in the Annex.  Compared to the damage in the historic settlements, damage in the informal settlements is far less.  5 pieces of tarpaulins is provided to Nepal Mahila Ekta Samaj for distribution to the needy families,  We will be having a meeting soon with the federation leaders on the rehabilitation of the affected families in the settlements in Kathmandu.

 

• Responses from the Women's Cooperatives: 

 
Core area in Kathmandu:  Members of Prerana Cooperative visited Lumanti this morning and reported the figures of the damages that had taken place along the Bishnumati river belt in Kathmandu in Inaya Tole, Ramghat, Bhim Mukteshor and Hyumata.  Tent and food supply was in demand.  We provided a small fund to Sudarshana, chairperson of Prerana to make food arrangement to the needy families.
 
Thankot:  Members of Mahila Jagaran Cooperative in Thankot visited a number of  affected communities and distributed food item.  Details provided in the Annex.
 

•   Women's cooperative contributed Rs. 400,000 for making food arrangements.  They complained that relief from government has not arrived yet, and the community was frustrated.  Some wanted to shift in the rental housing, but even to find a room to rent has become a challenging issue as many people looked for rooms now. 

 
Thaiba:  About 400 families living in a school area.  The schools will re open in 2 weeks time.  The people who are living there are thinking to negotiate not to leave the school but rather live in a conjested manner occupying few rooms.  a cooperative is also  making arrangement of food in Thaiba.
 
In all these area the women are also making assessment of the situation in all the affected historic communities. Many organizations are packing relief goods and visiting the communities and distributing the relief packages. We are doing it in a different and community led way.  Community is assessing, making purchases as per need and demand, making arrangements and distributing by themselves with the support from Lumanti.  So far all these and more communities that I am not reporting right now, have shared that they have received very little or no relief goods from the government, and they seem to be living in isolation still in a state of shock.  They are relying on their own strength and resources and  sharing and caring each other – the life giving source in isolation in pain and sorrow.
 

• Distribtuion of tarpaulins:  Pushkar Shrestha from CIUD was contacted for tarpaulins, as he was the focal person designated among the NGOs, to make arrangement of the tarpaulins.  By afternoon we were provided 31 pieces of tarpaulins. Details of  the distribution of tarpaulins will be reported tomorrow.  We  have ordered 600 more pieces of tarpaulins for Kirtipur and other areas.  As tarpaulins were out of stock in the market in Kathmandu, and it has to be imported from India, next lot will arrive only on Monday.  Just hoping that its not going to be too late.  These tarpaulins are not free for us and we have to purchase these tarpaulins.  Till today's record 2500HH (source Municipality) is completely damaged so need  3100 temporary tent at least to ensure shelter for these affected people in Kirtipur..

 
 

• Mobilisation of youth volunteers:  We mobilized youth to report the damages in ward 23 and ward 30 in Kathmandu.  Situation is pretty bad in few communities.  Three people died in ward 30.  People have no confidence to go back and  live in their own houses.  These two young men agreed to volunteer in conducting assessment of the damage in a number of wards and mobilize youth for organizing, assessment and work on future plans.  They will start work from tomorrow. 

 

• Technical assessment of damaged houses:  An architect from Lumanti and members from Pro poor Technical Assistance Group (PTAG) attended a training provided by Nepal Engineers Association.  Training gave a skill to assess the damage made in the buildings and to ensure the safety of the houses and building before the people return.  After the training, the participants have started assessment of the houses in Basantpur area and they will be visiting communities tomorrow for the assessment of the safety according to the guidelines provided by NEA

 

• Community keen to lead in Dhading:  It was reported that about 95% of the houses in Chhatra Deurali and Jeevanpur in Dhading district was destroyed.  It was feared that food security will be a critical issues in the next few days.  A volunteer has been mobilized for the assessment of the food security and other needs in these two VDCs,  and support will be provided accordingly.  Efforts will be made for the formation of VDC level disaster management committee with community taking key role as shown interest by the community people.

 

• Water and sanitation:  More than 40 Volunteers mobilized for WASH awareness in camp sites and installed 9 emergency toilets at two camp sites. Till date 24 toilets have been installed in different camps.  2 water tanker of 7000Ltr and 1 tanker of 8000Ltr distributed water  around kirtipur area.  10 bottles of chlorine was distributed in Thecho. 

 

• Temporary shelter:  A private land owner has volunteered to provide his 5 ropani (1 acre) of land to construct temporary shelters for the affected families in Kirtipur.  We will be discussing more on this matter tomorrow.  The community women leaders have started looking for land for the construction temporary shelter. 

 
Annex 1   List of food distributed communities in Thankot

1. Balambu:
2. Dahachowk
3. Salangal
4. Kisipidhi
5. Bari gaon

Damaged houses in Thecho and Thaiba

        
 

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More updates can be seen at  FACEBOOK  page of Lumanti Support Group for Shelter
https://www.facebook.com/lumanti.shelter
 

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Machhegaon, taukhel area where we had our workshop justlast month!! More than 90 houses have completely collapsed . 4 people from community died. People are helping each other, cleaning debris, rescueing trapped people, everything.. .... People have the power to come over this terrible situation.. nepal is a strong country !!!

 

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Some of the experienced Lumanti team and friends in Nepal

The national community developemnt process in Nepal is not starting from scratch - it is embedded in a well-established and close collaboration between an NGO and two national people’s federations which began just ten years ago. Lumanti is the key NGO in Nepal working to support the urban poor. It was established in 1993, in a situation where the squatters didn’t know each other and lots of evictions were happening. They began supporting communities in Kathmandu in 1998, using community surveys and savings to bring people together. Gradually, they began doing training programs, exchange visits to other countries, children’s groups, upgrading activities, water and sanitation projects, and invited the municipality to see all these projects.


about Lumanti and previous programs HERE

              about ACHR experience with previous disasters HERE

              Why is people centred recovery  important ?
 

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30 APRIL 2015


From THE NATION Bangkok