Nicola Describes the Difficulty of Getting to the Rural Areas of Nepal

Our ShelterBox response team have traveled to a mountainous area north west of Khatmandu. The roads to this hard to reach area had only just been cleared of landslide debris and even then were difficult to navigate. the team were working with GEA Search and Rescue from Turkey and assisting them with the distribution of food and clean water whilst assessing how they could get shelter to the area and what form of shelter would be most appropriate in this challenging terrain. They were also accompanied by medics from Redog, Switzerland, who were providing emergency medical support to people who had been injured.

One village, Rameche Giau, had been completely devastated. 23 families had lost their homes and around 50 people were sheltering at night under just one tarpaulin. This is just one of the many affected villages and our focus now is on the getting the logistics in place to provide shelter as soon as we can.

Despite the tragedy of the situation this was the first time we had seen hope rather than fear in people. This was the first time that aid of any kind had reached the villages and just knowing that people were coming to them seemed to make all the difference.

The teams from ShelterBox still have a huge challenge ahead – getting more aid into the country and then finding safe routes to get it to some of the most inaccessible parts of the affected regions.

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Music: Underwater mountains by Cosme McMoon Jnr, CC licenced work