Korean Students Donate for Earthquake Relief

Students from the Korean Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) raised and donated $6129 USD for earthquake relief. They are supporting the rebuilding of a school in one of the districts affected by the April 2015 earthquake. The KAIST student group, Engineers Without Borders (EWB), took the initiative and spearheaded the fund raising with the KAIST Undergraduate Council and International Scholar and Student Services. KAIST is a prestigious Korean university and the most respected Professor Tae – Ho Song heads the team. Working with Dr. Mahabir Pun’s Nepal Wireless organization, Dr. Song brought teams of 15 undergraduate and graduate engineering students to Nepal...

Articles Worth Reading

David Citrin, PhD, MPH wrote a well constructed article about disaster relief in Nepal for Humanosphere. Read it here. Melody Schreiber, a program manager at International Reporting Project, wrote about the earthquake effects on the Nepal health system. Read it here.

More Small Donations…

In lieu of gifts for a 60th birthday party my husband requested family and friends make a donation to HEF’s Earthquake Relief Fund. A jar was placed on a table with reminders of the earthquake….in small donations of $20, $30 and $50 USD…over $1300 USD was raised. Small donations add up to make a difference.  

Small Donations Matter

Kate, a former Australia volunteer, sent this message to HEF along with her daughter’s donation for the Earthquake Relief Fund. It shows that small donations really do matter. “My daughter, Sarah, ran a cupcake stall to raise money for earthquake victims. She raised AU$446 which converts to US$340. We hope this helps a little. Thanks, Kate. PS I volunteered in Nangi about 15 years ago and it was a wonderful experience. I would love to bring my children there someday.” This amount of money is about the average annual income for a family in Nepal. Think about the impact…one cupcake...

Earthquake Relief – Controversy

The Nepal government set up the Prime Minister disaster relief fund mandating all earthquake relief money from any organization either Nepal or globally based be directed to the fund. This is in a country where thousands of non-government agencies have operated aid programs for decades without government supervision. The goal was to coordinate all funds arriving into Nepal for disaster relief into one program and avoid duplication and/or waste of services. Controversy has developed amid speculation and concerns for it’s ability to monitor, distribute and assess such a monumental task. Dr. Mahabir Pun wrote to the Nepal Chief Secretary, Lilamani Poudyal, concerning the...

Earthquake Devastation in Pictures & Numbers

American Nepal Medical Association posts regular updates on the field disaster relief work in pictures and texts. Dr. Mahabir Pun wrote: “Just to give you an idea of how big the damage is, I have given the summary of the damage as follows. They are still collecting more information.” Source: Nepal Government website No. of Nepali people died – 8,604 No. of people injured – 16,808 No. of foreigners died/injured – 70/50 No. of foreigners missing – 111 No. Government buildings fully destroyed – 768 No. of houses fully destroyed–488,789 No. of houses partially destroyed – 267,477 No. of schools fully destroyed –...

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How do you recover from a natural disaster when your government struggled on a daily basis to develop a progressive and equitable framework for raising Nepal out of poverty? An interesting debate has developed on Mahabir Pun’s Facebook page. Read Mahabir’s statement to the Nepal government here. And read the many comments here.