Oxfam assessing the situation in devastated Gorkha district

Oxfam assessing the situation in devastated Gorkha district

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Health services in Gorkha district in shambles. Disease outbreak looming. #OxfaminNepal. #NepalEarthquake

The team of Oxfam from India is in Gorkha district, one of the worst affected regions in the #NepalEarthquake.

They are assessing the damage in to the villages in the region. 

After assessing Beragaon village in Gorkha district, a member of the Oxfam team from India said: “80% of the houses in the village are damaged and everyone in the village is forced to live outside in the open. This is a common scene in almost all the villages in the affected area.”

Over 30-40% of the houses in Beragaon are totally damaged. The rest are partially damaged. Houses that are partially damaged are not safe for habitation anymore. They either need urgent repair or new shelters have to be rebuilt.

Other villages assessed by the team on the ground are: Lamsalgaon, Pokridara, Deragaon, Machgaon, Piplebot, Dadagaon 

Shelter Needs: 

Tarpaulin sheets, ground sheets, solar lamps, EPI foam sheets, kitchen utensils, blankets, given that it is cold in the evening and nights and monsoons are just around the corner. 

It is important to consider that it will be monsoons in a month and the shelter requirements will need to be much more robust than tarpaulin sheets.

Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WaSH)

WaSH needs are acute in some villages. People out in the open including lactating mothers, children and elders. There is now a threat of a major disease outbreak.

Hygiene practice in the villages is poor and especially water storage and treatment is an area of concern. 

In some villages women particularly requested for private spaces for washing and bathing. Most of the households do have rudimentary latrines, however now people are defecating in the open.

There are a number of pregnant women in the villages. Medical care is now absent and the health units in the villages are dysfunctional since the earthquake. If a woman needs urgent medical care, it is near impossible that that they can access medical services in Gorkha.

The UN reports that up to 90% of the health facilities in Ramechhap, Nuwakot, Sindhuppalchwok and Gorkha districts have been severely damaged.

Needs on the ground:

• Bathing space with privacy screen and water source

• Public health promotion

• Birthing kits 

• Sanitary cloth 

• Rehabilitation of water sources – gravity based

• Extended distribution points 

• Latrines specially for women