November 3, 2023 Earthquake

Partnering with BlinkNow and HAPSA Nepal, D2N's initial efforts after the earthquake supplied two villages with food, cooking support, blankets, temporary shelters clothing and emergency medical kits. Our trucks ferried these supplies while our ambulance took the injured as well as pregnant moms, children and the elderly in distress and orphaned children to Surkhet (a municipality about five hours from the affected area) to be taken care of.

Earthquakes in Nepal are caused by the two constantly-shifting tectonic plates (that merged when India merged with Eurasia) on which the country sits. Future earthquakes are inevitable. Additionally, Nepal is one of the world's most prone countries to floods, landslides and fires. To respond to any of these situations D2N set up a phone line in Surkhet that was manned 24/7 fielding calls from the entire province for emergencies and any calls for assistance.

Focusing on the Nalgad Municipality, D2N continued sending trucks with supplies and our ambulance and continued to address the immediate needs of the community. BlinkNow provided the necessary infrastructure to do this.

Now that these communities have adequate supplies and temporary shelter, they have requested assistance rebuilding infrastructure. As always, D2N relies on the local communities to identify their priorities. They have requested the rebuilding of schools (over 800 schools were damaged, 200 were completely destroyed.) Our initial goal is to rebuild four or five schools. The final number schools will be based on number of classrooms, budget of school construction as well as fundraising.

D2N has done this before. After the 2015 earthquake we rebuilt 12 earthquake-safe schools in Khotang as well as two health posts and two birthing centers.