In this special edition of Political Economic Digest Series, we will look back at some of the highly commendable voluntary efforts made by the people (individuals and groups), coming together for the victims spontaneously, as the earthquake hit. The articles that follow contain documentations of how people acted on their own, in any capacity they could, rather than waiting for the government relief to reach the victims of the quake. Additional articles feature opinions about the spirit of entrepreneurship that has been gaining grounds in Nepal, and also about how the affected people have lost their homes but not their skills – the skills that the people will use to rise again. In the article “A new generation will help Nepal rise up and rebuild,” by Tashi Sherpa, he talks about the faith he has in the entrepreneurial youth of the nation and expresses his belief in them in re-building the country. The article “Unbent and unbowed,” by Samrat Katwal, contains additionally, useful words of caution as we move towards the reconstruction phase. He talks about protecting and using the indigenous knowledge about construction in different topographical and cultural regions of the country.

1. In this special edition of Political Economic Digest Series, we will look back at some of the highly
commendable voluntary efforts made by the people (individuals and groups), coming together for the
victims spontaneously, as the earthquake hit. The articles that follow contain documentations of how
people acted on their own, in any capacity they could, rather than waiting for the government relief to
reach the victims of the quake. Additional articles feature opinions about the spirit of entrepreneurship
that has been gaining grounds in Nepal, and also about how the affected people have lost their homes
but not their skills – the skills that the people will use to rise again. In the article “A new generation will
help Nepal rise up and rebuild,” by Tashi Sherpa, he talks about the faith he has in the entrepreneurial
youth of the nation and expresses his belief in them in re-building the country. The article “Unbent and
unbowed,” by Samrat Katwal, contains additionally, useful words of caution as we move towards the
reconstruction phase. He talks about protecting and using the indigenous knowledge about construction
in different topographical and cultural regions of the country.

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Nepal: Volunteering to save quake victims1
- Annette Ekin
Ordinary Nepalese have took it upon themselves to provide life-saving services for
those most in need.
Kathmandu, Nepal - Soon after the devastating earthquake struck Nepal on April 25, young people
began spearheading volunteer efforts to help those affected by the deadly temblor.
Volunteers pooled their resources, harnessed social media, and drew from their own unique skills to
coordinate and bring aid and support to victims around the country.
Al Jazeera spoke to some of the individuals behind these humanitarian initiatives who were among the
first to respond to people's dire needs.
Bipin Gaire, 28, civil engineer and director of the training organisation Protools Centre for Engineering
Gaire founded the website Bhukampa (earthquake) and he and eight others have amassed a network of
more than 350 volunteer engineers who are carrying out visual assessments of homes, schools, and
other buildings to determine whether or not the structures are safe or need to be torn down.
"We started this three days after the earthquake. We were thinking about what we could do from our
part. People started sending foodstuffs and tents, but what we could do was deliver our technical skills
and console the people who were outside of their houses.
We're not funded by anyone. We don't expect to be funded either. Engineers like us are out on our own
motorbikes, on our petrol, because we're doing it for the country."
Rijan Lal Mulmi, 23, environmental management student and member of Earthquake Action Nepal
One of the things Nepalese young people are doing is producing hand sanitiser that's being dispatched
across the country to places where there's a water shortage.
"We're a loose group, not a particular organisation, NGO or anything, of youths and we have tried to
work basically for relief and now we're focusing on the second part - we're trying to plan for the
monsoon. For now we have to dispatch all the stuff that we have collected, which is mostly food and we
are also trying to emphasise sanitation… In that process we came to know about hand sanitisers.
The important fact about hand sanitiser is since it's a new product in the Nepali market … people don't
know how to use it, how much to use. Since it's transparent and we were giving it out in bottles, there
were cases of [people] mistaking it for water and drinking it.
1
Source: Al Jazeera: http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2015/05/150510073044740.html

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So to avoid those things we were trying to figure out ways to avoid this, for instance, we do not [any
longer] bottle it in mineral water bottles… The instructions that we give is to use half a bottle cap after
touching anybody infected or injured, and after using toilets and after washing kids."
Brabim Kumar, 30, president of the Association of Youth Organisations Nepal (AYON)
Since the earthquake, AYON and Come On Youth Stand-up, a volunteer group, formed Act4Quake to
supply relief materials. According to Kumar, Act4Quake has been the first to reach many affected
villages with supplies such as tents, blankets, and food.
Kumar estimated 75 percent of their funding has come from Nepalis living outside the country. He
talked about the importance of accountability and transparency.
"We have mobilised around 1,000 youth volunteers so actively there are 200 or 300 volunteers every
day that are working, they are coming here and they are going to different locations.
We have good-natured young people who are self-motivated and driven, who think that they have some
responsible duty to bring some changes in the country. The big chunk of money is coming from Nepali
people outside.
Right now we're putting up Facebook statuses thanking, acknowledging people and their support. We'll
[soon] put every detail [of money spent] on the website.
We are accountable to those people, those individuals or organisations who are thinking about those
people on the ground and they're utilising our strength to reach to the people… Many NGOs ask for
accountability of the government, but first we have to be accountable before we can ask that of the
government."
Milan Rai, 30, an artist, works with about 50 volunteers constructing temporary toilets
So far the volunteers have constructed about 120 toilets in the Kathmandu Valley and in
Sindhupalchowk district.
"I went to Tundikhel area [the largest community of displaced people in Kathmandu living in tents]
where displaced people were staying and I asked if there were any toilets there. There was one toilet
there - it was overflowing and not in any condition to use.
The people there had no other option. Girls especially came to talk to me and said: 'It is very difficult for
us… We have to wait until dark.' I said, 'We will make toilets here.' We went to look for a tent and
bamboo to make emergency toilets… I was very concerned about the outbreak of diseases and it was
also a matter of dignity."
Without the volunteers this would not be possible. They're contributing their pocket money, they're
contributing financially and [through] their physical work."
Jimi Prem Karthak, owner of The Lunch Box café in Kathmandu

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The café has provided local orphanages with cooked meals on Saturdays since February, but since the
earthquake its volunteers have been cooking daily and delivering food to as many as 10 orphanages.
"I'm a local boy. My village is Kathmandu… People are rushing off to Nuwakot, Sindhuli, rushing to
Gorkha, my friends are rushing to their ancestral places [to help]. But you won't believe me, but there
are so many affected nearby [Kathmandu] also. Here we have been suffering.
They [children] eat it, they don't waste it … they are hungry."
Parakram Singh Yonzon, Tibetan furniture designer, founder of Nepal Earthquake Volunteers Control
Centre
The group set up an information centre and now runs aid missions into remote parts of the country.
"We realised we had strengths that other people didn't. We have in our team really good
communication tools such as satellite phones, we have really good trekkers, we have Mount Everest
summiters.
We have people who know about how to rescue people from the Himalayas - these guys are all trained.
We are just individuals, we said 'we just want to help' and we were there on Facebook and everyone
started to connect.
For the first two, four days it was so haphazard. Now we have streamlined [things], we said we want to
do missions to go up there in the mountains and see what we can do - we take all the relief materials. So
that's what our focus is on, getting relief to really far out places."

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HOW VOLUNTARY EFFORT IS LEADING RELIEF
WORK POST #NEPALEARTHQUAKE20152
- Sarita Sapkota
When tragedies of a scale as big as the one that is taking place in Nepal occur, most attention is directed
towards state action. There are some reasons that justify that attention, some that do not. But as state
mechanisms were setting up (sorting out customs related provisions and analyzing its impact on the
revenue collection targets, coming up with directives, ensuring there is money in the Prime Ministers’
Disaster Relief Fund (never mind if one has to use force through the power of law for it), placing people
to place signatures on n number of documents, etc.), there were thousands taking voluntary action
(group of friends, civil society organizations, neighborhood groups, guys and girls in their scooters and
much more) rushing to the affected sites offering whatever skills, knowledge, resources they had in
providing immediate relief to those in need.
Voluntary efforts on the forefront of relief efforts in Sindhupalchok
As published in Editor’s Pick in e-kantipur
Commentary: Relief efforts
In quake-hit Sindhupalchok, private volunteers, community organisations have taken the lead
MELAMCHI, MAY 04 – Private volunteers and community organisations have led the bulk of the relief
effort currently under way in the district. Thousands of people from Kathmandu procure their supplies
in Kathmandu and travel to Sindhupalchok to distribute them to villages struck hard by the earthquake.
Volunteers from the affected villages have come out soliciting aid from sources in Kathmandu and have
been involved in organising transport and the distribution of supplies in their villages. While private
initiatives have been swift, the government response has been very slow and tardy. The role of political
parties in the relief effort leaves much to be desired.
The problem is not just at the central level. At the local level too there is paralysis of governance. In
numerous villages in earthquake-hit districts like Sindhupalchok, there is widespread contempt towards
the political class. Locals in such villages state that their local political leaders have only been involved in
procuring some supplies for their own relatives. The government has disbursed Rs 900,000 to each VDC
for distribution.
All-Party Mechanisms (APMs) are meant to decide how to allocate these funds. In many places,
however, the APMs have been completely dysfunctional. The distribution of funds has been held up due
to conflicts between the various party representatives. Furthermore, the APMs have made no attempt
to properly organise the relief effort.
2
Source: nepalrelief.net: http://nepalrelief.net/how-voluntary-efforts-led-relief-work-post-nepalearthquake2015/

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Very few party representatives seem interested in cataloguing the damage caused to households or
undertaking other such preparatory measures essential to any distribution effort.
Meanwhile, the sister-wings of political parties have been almost entirely absent from the aid
distribution effort. The absence of youth wings has been conspicuous, especially given the numerous
independently organised youth initiatives that have emerged over the past week.
It is not an understatement that there is a political vacuum at the local level. This vacuum is being filled
by Community Based Organisations, which are undertaking the difficult tasks of cataloguing and
organising distribution. If the poor performance of government mechanisms and political parties at the
local level continues, this will have a major impact on the legitimacy of the Nepali state. We have
repeatedly been saying that it is the state that should bear primary responsibility for the organisation of
relief and reconstruction. It is the only organ that is capable of coordinating the vast effort. If it fails in its
duties, numerous other organisations and individuals will step in to fill the void.
While myriad community efforts have significant strengths, without a central coordinating body their
work will remain uneven and chaotic. It is a matter of urgent necessity that the government and political
parties immediately recognise the gravity of the situation and start channeling resources towards it.
They only have a short period of time to take grasp of the situation before it spirals out of their control.
Posted on: 2015-05-04 07:27
Voluntary efforts lead relief distribution in Sindhupalchok
This is an excerpt from a facebook post titled Observations from a trip to Sindhupalchok made by an
individual by the name of Aditya Adhikari and was found on this link:
Based on the post, Aditya travelled to Suryakot village, Badegaun VDC Ward 8, Sindhupalchok on May 02
to deliver food supplies and made several observations. One of the observations was how community
organizations’ voluntary efforts are at the forefront of relief distribution. Below is that section of the
post as it appeared there:
3 May 2015 at 17:54
I accompanied a team delivering food supplies to Suryakot village, Badegaun VDC Ward 8,
Sindhupalchok yesterday. All of the 165 houses in the village have been destroyed and at least 19 people
have died. I won’t describe the abject circumstances in Sindhupalchok since others have already done so
(notably Gyanu Adhikari at recordnepal.com and Jason Burke in the Guardian). Instead, here are a few
observations about the social and political aspects of the disaster.
Community organizations are more active and enjoy greater legitimacy than the political parties. The
distribution of supplies was remarkably organized. Local volunteers had taken detailed notes on the
number of people in each household and the numbers of the dead and injured.They lined up
representatives from each household and asked them to wait for their names to be announced, and
then receive supplies on behalf of their families. Individuals received amounts of rice, dal, oil and salt

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that were in proportion to the size of their families. The villagers were patient and felt that the
distribution was fair.The volunteers organizing the distribution identified themselves as members of
FECOFUN (the forest users’ group) and other Community Based Organizations (CBOs). Only after much
prodding did they reveal that they were members of political parties as well. Of the three chief
organizers, one was from Mohan Baidya’s Maoist faction and the other two were from the UML. They
seemed ashamed to be identified with their parties and were scornful of their leaders. They felt that the
local party bodies and administration had no capacity to organize the relief effort. While the local All
Party Mechanism was involved in trying to allocate the Rs. 9 lakhs that the government had given to the
VDC, the parties had not taken detailed records of the situation of households and their needs. It was
generally felt that any attempt to distribute funds through the All Party Mechanism would only result in
chaos and uneven distribution. It was clear that the CBOs possessed superior organization and greater
public legitimacy than the parties.
Help Nepal Network
Help Nepal Network is an established charity in Nepal, which is considered the largest charitable
network of Nepalis. Going by the full name HELP NEPAL Network: One Dollar a Month Fund for Nepal is
a global charity run on a fully voluntary basis maintaining a very small office of three staff members in
Kathmandu.
As the 7.8 magnitude struck Nepal on April 25, 2015, the group immediately came into action despite its
President Arun Singh Basnet sustaining an injury on his right knee and its Vice-President Ravi
Manandhar losing his younger sister. During the first few days after the quake, the group mobilized over
200 volunteers and reached over 80 places with relief. As evident from their facebook page, they have
been providing range of relief materials – from temporary shelters to food to water to medical supplies.
As of May 08, 2.37 PM, they had raised $285,000 and are raising more.

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Nepal quake: aid finally begins to arrive
in remote villages, sent by locals3
As NGOs and the Nepali government face massive logistical difficulties of
distributing aid, local help is also managing to get through to a remote
cluster of villages in the Himalayan foothills
In Bunkot, a remote cluster of villages clinging to high ridges at 7,000ft in the Himalayan foothills, aid
has finally begun to arrive. Fewer than 15 miles from the epicentre of Saturday’s quake, lashed
overnight by heavy rain and hit by a series of powerful aftershocks, the area is one of the worst affected
in Nepal.
And yet, on Thursday night, at least a few hundred homeless villagers prepared to sleep in marginally
better conditions, free from hunger for a few hours. As NGOs and the Nepali government struggle with
the massive logistical difficulties of bringing in and distributing the huge quantities of material needed
for the hundred thousand people thought to be homeless in the area around Bunkot, informal local
initiatives are getting some help through.
Early on Thursday morning, pickup trucks carrying bedding, snacks and other vital materials arrived in
Bunkot, sent by a restaurant in the Chitwan national park, about 50 miles away. The vehicles managed
to get through before rain cut the mud track to the nearest metalled road leading to Gorkha Bazaar, the
district centre.
“There is a very important need. These people just need to survive. We can’t wait for the government.
We decided to do it ourselves,” said Naresh Giri, manager of the KC Restaurant and Bar.
As tempers rose outside the partially ruined school where the handout was taking place, Sobita Amjin,
25, collected a roll of foam bedding and some snacks. “Our house was badly damaged and collapsed
completely with the aftershock. We are all living outside. We have no shelter, nothing. We are happy to
get this but need much more,” Amjin said.
Half a mile away, filthy, ragged men from Mahadipur village set about unloading a cargo of 58 sacks of
rice from a bus which had travelled 50 miles to reach them. “My brother sent it. He is a businessman.
When the telephones came back on, I told him we had no food left and were very hungry,” Ganga Athi
Kari, 50, said.
3
Source: The Guardian: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/30/nepal-quake-aid-finally-begins-to-
arrive-in-bunkot-sent-by-locals

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Like many Nepalis among the 8.1 million people effected by the quake – of whom 1.4 million need food
assistance, according to the United Nations – villagers in Bunkot are angry at the slow pace of aid
distribution. “How can so much time pass and we are suffering still?” asked Bimolla Adikhari, 40.
Though the situation is improving in and around Kathmandu, huge numbers of people are still without
any help. The situation is particularly bad in Gorkha district, of which Bunkot is a subdivision. There is
almost no information about the 10,000 people who live in its northernmost areas, close to the border
with Tibet.
Kempo Chimed Tsering, a local religious leader and former minister, said he had flown into villages close
to the mountain of Manaslu, the eight highest in the world, and seen “terrible scenes”. “There are still
injured there who have not been treated. Whole villages are flattened. They need tents very badly,” he
told the Guardian.
Tsering said more than 70 Nepalese army and government helicopter missions had distributed food and
other material that he had provided. Some NGOs are now also working in Gorkha. More than 2,000 kits
including tarpaulins, kitchen utensils and blankets have been distributed by Save The Children, most by
helicopter.
Lynette Lim, communications manager for the NGO in Gorkha, flew over villages near the epicentre on
Tuesday. “It’s very clear that those places are hard to get to. It’s either a helicopter or nothing. Some are
between five and eight days walk away,” Lim said.
Landslides have now made trekking routes and paths lethal, but helicopters are often grounded by bad
weather and are too few to distribute anywhere near the quantities of aid required. Nepal is appealing
to foreign governments for more helicopters. There are currently about 20 Nepalese army, private and
Indian army helicopters involved in rescue operations, according to Laxmi Prasad Dhakal, a home
ministry official.
Tensions between foreigners and Nepalis desperate to be evacuated have also surfaced. In Langtang
valley, where 150 people are feared trapped, a helicopter pilot was taken hostage by locals demanding
to be evacuated first, one report said.
The official death toll in Nepal has reached 5,489. It does not include the 19 people killed at Mount
Everest – five foreign climbers and 14 Nepalese Sherpa guides – when the quake caused an avalanche at
base camp on the world’s highest peak.
Nepal’s national emergency operation centre says more than 130,000 homes and 10,000 government
buildings have been destroyed. Swarathok, a village in Sindhupalchowk district visited by the Guardian
three days ago, still had not been visited by a government official by Thursday night. Swarathok, which
had been almost completely destroyed, is a two-hour drive then an hour’s walk from Kathmandu.
At least two trucks of aid organised by concerned locals in Kathmandu have now reached the district and
aid from established NGOs is also beginning to arrive. One team of doctors spent eight hours in the area

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on Thursday. However, heavy goods vehicles are in short supply, the nation’s only international airport
is heavily congested, and there is a shortage of space to stock incoming relief supplies.
Many aid organisations have warehouses full of material in the region, in Dubai, or the Philippines, but
are unable to bring it into the country. Trucks carrying food and other essentials from India are now
arriving, though. Among those blocked are specialist air traffic control teams who could help ease the
congestion. They are currently waiting in Abu Dhabi, one aid worker said.
Officials have defended the government’s relief effort, saying they are doing what they can with limited
means. In the district headquarters of Gorkha, policemen and soldiers loaded sacks of rice on to trucks
and drew up lists of possible recipients through the night.
“We are only sleeping six hours since Saturday. We are pleading for more helicopters and more
resources,” said Uddab Prasad Timilsina, the most senior administrator in Ghorka district.
An hour’s walk beyond where the staff of KC Restaurant and Bar were distributing their supplies was
another village, perched above terraced fields and a precipitous drop to the valley floor below. All its
dozen or so homes had been damaged.
Rameshwa Ragumi, 36, had walked for two days carrying kilos of rice across country from Kathmandu, a
distance of about 50 miles, to be with his elderly parents and wife. “We are better off than a lot of
people. At least we have something to eat and a cattle shed to keep the rain off,” Ragumi said.

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A new generation will help Nepal rise up
and rebuild4
- Tashi Sherpa
Even in the grim aftermath of the quake, hope shines through.
ON April 25, a massive earthquake shook and shattered Nepal from its weekend stupor. I remember my
limbs cowering in a silent mantra to all my gods. As a Sherpa, our lives are intrinsically linked in prayer to
our protector deities, in happy times and in calamities.
For most Nepalese, this apocalyptic moment turned their lives topsy-turvy. More than 7,500 have died
and thousands were left homeless. The physical scars will serve as perennial reminders of the aftermath
— those proud monuments from a mythical valley of forgotten kings, the intricate alleyways of ancient
townships, the antiqued patina of a multihued culture now lie under brick rubble. The cruelest wounds
have been inflicted on our remote villages — those once picturesque getaways for trekkers have now
turned into disaster zones. That very charm of remoteness has turned these hills into landscapes of
misery.
The sad irony is that we knew the big one was coming, but no one expected it. The tragic paradox of
Nepal today lies beyond the trauma of the death and damage wrought by this earthquake. We are a
country abundantly blessed by the awe-inspiring magnificence of our snowcapped Himalayas, the glacial
foaming of our roaring rivers, the cleansing purity of our verdant valleys. Our people are icons of bravery
and our homes legendary for their instant warmth and hospitality. They say people visit Nepal once but
come back for their friends.
But we are also afflicted by man’s failings. Nepalese have endured centuries of social discrimination and
exploitation from despots and modern day oligarchs. A long civil conflict killed thousands and chased
away a generation’s opportunities for economic and social progress. Millions of youths have left the
country to seek their futures elsewhere. We are still ranked close to the lowest end of the poverty index.
The messy vortex of Nepali politics has left little space for nation-building. Corruption is endemic and
little of any economic benefits filter to the poor. Even in the best of times, the political leadership is
mocked daily for its ineptitude. No wonder then, at the worst of times, no one was prepared for this
colossal earthquake.
I am a Nepali American and I’ve lived here in the beautiful Northwest for 25 years imbibing the values of
a liberal, democratic lifestyle. The laid-back sophistication and insouciant hipness of Seattle are not
4
Source: The Seattle Times: http://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/a-new-generation-will-help-nepal-rise-up-and-
rebuild/

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accidental. The wheels that created this environment were spun from decades of deep political
commitment to public service for the greater good.
I built my business here. I am grateful to America for giving me this space, but I learned my trade in
Nepal. I straddle the best of what both worlds offer and I am proud that as an owner of a small outdoor
company, I am able to contribute my bit to both countries’ economies. If a Sherpa family can prove the
American dream is alive here, then, surely, why not in Nepal?
Even in the grim aftermath of this disaster, hope shines through. There is a new age in Nepal. A grass-
roots movement is taking place among its young, educated and talented people. They are back to show
the entrenched old guard how it should be done: entrepreneurship, a passion for social enterprise and a
fearlessness to question the establishment.
Every day, I see new startups being eagerly initiated, young graduates inspired for social service in
faraway villages, professional investors becoming more common and voters pushing for reforms. The
subtext is a warning for those who refuse to change. Nepal’s spring of change is happening right now.
In the immediate aftermath of this calamity, the one thing that stood out was the instant compassion
and a can-do resourcefulness of a new force in our country. The pushcart vendor who gave all of his fruit
to the tent-city occupants, the soldiers and police constables, the selfless nurses and doctors working
without rest, the thousands of volunteers braving the odds: They are Nepal’s finest, all working tirelessly
through the nights to rescue those trapped under rubble. These are the mental notes I take away with
me so that I can proudly tell of what happened when the great earthquake came. Nepal will rise.

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Unbent and unbowed5
- Samrat Katwal
Relief workers must be mindful of the fact that people have lost homes, not their
skills and dignity
MAY 10 -
In Bharta VDC of Makwanpur district, a 54-year-old mother whose year-and-a-half-old daughter had
died during the earthquake offered us the food she had collected from the debris of house, as we
shared the open sky in her front yard as shelter. A lady in Ramkot shed tears when she queued up for
relief food being handed-over by outsiders. Her home was completely destroyed by the 7.9 magnitude
earthquake, but it was not loss of her house that distressed her, it was her dignity and self-respect which
had been shaken as she stood in line for a handout. Today, Nepalis, who would otherwise offer food and
shelter to any visitor in need, are themselves lining up for food and tarpaulin.
Similarly, many locals in far-off villages who have seen their homes, heritage, and the whole of their
village collapse now hold the opinion that their architecture was weak and inferior. The dwellers of
Kathmandu’s suburbs, where most old homes collapsed even as concrete buildings still stand, might feel
the same way. A very serious aftershock of this earthquake is that it could crumble our trust in our
resources, our institutions, our architects, and in ourselves.
Rebuilding homes
At this point, many relief workers/organisations have started searching for and experimenting with new
home designs for Nepali communities.
Some are even trying to find a completely new alternative to our traditional homes while others are
experimenting with new temporary-house prototypes. Urban dwellers might not have the skills to
construct a temporary shelter out of the resources available locally, or tarps available at hand, but we
need to understand that temporary shelters have been a way of life in the villages as they go herding,
logging, or farming away from their primary homes regularly.
Our prototypes for temporary shelter will only confuse them—they have lost their homes, not their
skills! Communities need to be relieved of the mindset that their ancestral designs were completely
useless and what is being offered by relief workers is the ultimate design. Maybe, our structures were
weak and need improvement to withstand even higher magnitude quakes. But, it is also true that our
homes had stayed up for decades, many of them even withstanding the 8.4 Richter scale earthquake in
5
Source: ekantipur.com: http://www.ekantipur.com.np/2015/05/10/oped/unbent-and-unbowed/405037.html

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1934. If they collapsed now, it was primarily because they were decades old and had met their expiry
date.
In addition, one cannot think of homes only on the basis of their ability to withstand earthquakes. House
designs are different for different geo-cultural regions and they work to serve specific social and
environmental needs. No outsider can understand the kind of homes that are needed as much as the
locals themselves. The increasing belief among locals that their homes were weak needs to be cleared
and relief workers need to partner with affected community members in designing homes, including
temporary ones, or at least believe in their capacity to rebuild their own homes.
No time to experiment
Further, in addition to houses, other things that come as relief packages, including junk food, a certain
brand of toothpaste and soap or sanitary napkins, will all standardise the pattern of consumption. It will
leave a mental benchmark on what to use and what is a superior product, even after the relief work is
over. I still remember the confused face of a lady for whom brushing her teeth was not that important
but her relief pack had a toothbrush and paste inside. It is very important that only things that are very
essential be provided, and where possible, only local stuff that they were already consuming be taken as
relief material. This phase of relief is not the right time to acquaint locals with new dental hygiene
practices and menstrual products. Decisions about local needs, distribution mechanisms, and handing
over of relief packages should be done by locals themselves. The women we met would probably want
someone to come into her demolished home as a son or a daughter, not as relief distributers. They
would probably appreciate a hand to clear the debris that still remains.
Though help in many forms is essential, it is equally important to realise that Nepali communities rose
on their own after the 1934earthquake and even today, are capable of doing so. As we have all geared
up as ‘relief workers’, our best-intended actions can lead to unintended consequences that might
weaken the morale of the earthquake survivors and pave the way towards dependent communities. The
self-respect of the affected people and communities needs to be renovated through meaningful
community participation during relief works. The affected communities need to be actively involved in
decision-making and the implementation of relief activities. No one knows about the immediate needs
of the communities as much as the affected and relief collectors should not assume that community
members share the same needs as them.
Humility matters
Furthermore, relief workers and organisations will have to be humble enough to not care about their
banners, promotional t-shirts, and ‘relief trophies’ to be uploaded to Facebook. Restoring dignity will
come only with very cautious relief packages and mechanisms. Personal acts in the form of language,
action, and outfit of relief actors also matters.
The earthquake has already caused great damage. Now, our well-intended relief actions should not lead
to another disaster and destroy the dignity of our long self-sufficient communities. Only if we go to
affected areas as sons and daughters, as brothers and sisters, and as friends more than as people with a

15. Political Economic Digest| Voluntary Efforts Post Nepal Earthquake|Samriddhi, The Prosperity Foundation
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relief package, will we finish with the relief phase soon and help people regain control over lives and
livelihoods in a dignified manner.