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Oxfam to begin delivering aid for earthquake victims in Nepal
International aid agency Oxfam says it will soon begin delivering clean water and sanitation supplies to thousands of people in Nepal starting Tuesday, following Saturday's devastating earthquake
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nternational aid agency Oxfam says it will soon begin delivering clean water and sanitation supplies to thousands of people in Nepal starting Tuesday, following Saturday's devastating earthquake.
Some 30,000 people are reportedly living in makeshift shelters at 16 government camp locations, too scared to return to their homes for fear of aftershocks.
"We are still facing a lot of aftershocks; the last was a 6.8 on the Richter scale this afternoon. Thousands will have to face another night outside,' Oxfam country director in Nepal, Cecilia Keizer, said in a press release on Monday.
According to Oxfam, the aftershocks and the damage to roads and infrastructure are making it extremely difficult to reach communities outside of the Nepalese capital. Telephone lines are down and electricity and water supplies have been damaged. The number of people killed continues to rise, and people need immediate access to adequate safe water, sanitation facilities and food assistance.
'We are managing to reach people in Kathmandu, but it is extremely difficult to provide support on a larger scale to the most affected areas - a lot of the main roads have been damaged,' said Keizer.
"Our staff are still checking on families and the partners we work with. At the moment, all the death-count reports are coming in from the Kathmandu Valley.
Sadly, I fear this is only the beginning,' she said.
In Kathmandu valley, of the 16 camp locations identified by the government, 9 are in Kathmandu, 4 in Latipur and 3 in Bhaktapur.
Oxfam said it was working with UNICEF and would start building its first sanitation facilities in Tudikhel in Bhacktapr, on Tuesday, serving 1500-2000 people in the location alone. Oxfam is set to complete its assessments in the Lalitpur camp on Tuesday as well.
'Our priority is to ensure that people affected have adequate humanitarian assistance and we are able to prevent secondary disasters, including the outbreak of disease, by providing safe water and critical sanitation support,' Oxfam India deputy director Zubin Zaman said.
'Hundreds of thousands of displaced people need urgent humanitarian assistance now - including children and women who are forced to be out in the open, huddled in groups with no food, safe water, or shelter.' (ebf)(++++)
