After the massive earthquake that demolished entire villages in central and eastern Nepal in April, killing more than 9,000 and leaving hundreds of thousands homeless, Frances Klatzel asked the residents of some of those villages if they could have just one thing, what they needed most.
“Corrugated tin for roofing,” they replied.
While tarps and tents donated in the immediate aftermath of the quake were greatly appreciated, they simply don’t hold up. Villagers have been building platforms with bamboo and broken bricks and roofing tin to raise themselves off wet muddy ground.
And in the process of locating and purchasing three tons of roofing tin for 54 families who lost everything and having it delivered to her house in Kathmandu from where it was brought to the villages, Klatzel learned a lot.
“I got really good at buying roofing tin,” she said.
Klatzel, who usually spends several weeks in Canmore and the Rockies twice a year, has made her home in Nepal for much of her life since she first visited the Himalayas in 1980. Grateful for her 18 years’ experience working with development projects, she’s especially thankful for all she’s learned in the past eight years since she co-founded CORE International, as that knowledge has been very helpful in CORE’s efforts to serve those whose needs have increased since the quake.
Just how Klatzel and her colleagues are taking their proven methods of providing effective aid and adapting them post-earthquake will be the focus of a photo and video presentation at CORE’s fundraising event taking place on Thursday (Sept. 17) at St. Michael’s Anglican Church.
“My presentation will focus on how we will use and adapt the methods that we have tried and proven with the very poor in Kathmandu - street vendors and garbage sorters - and to try to help people in Dolakha and in the camps where displaced people are staying,” she said.
Those methods were learned through CORE’s established projects which aim to serve those who are excluded from conventional NGOs, including micro-finance programs and operating education centres to provide training for academic schooling, life skills, vocational skills, health awareness and education, appropriate technology and indigenous knowledge.
The earthquake, said Klatzel, simply added to the list of needs, adding there are no quick fixes.
“Recovery will be a long-term process,” she said. “Right now in villages in the affected 14 districts (of Nepal’s 75), people who lost their homes are living in makeshift shelters that they constructed to stay dry in the monsoon. In some areas, after losing their homes, landslides took away their land, so several thousand people have come to the Kathmandu Valley or other less risky areas for safety.”
Since the earthquake, CORE has established a new association with a small community service group through friends who have a 20-year connection in Dolakha district, one of the most badly affected areas.
“The group asked for materials to help people stay clean and healthy and for help for new mothers and pregnant women,” Klatzel said. “We sent materials to every house in the village area – over 1,250 houses.”
While aftershocks continue to rattle the nation – more than 380 have registered above 4 on the Richter scale – Klatzel said life goes on.
“We have a child centre that wasn’t affected,” she said. “A week after the quake the parents said ‘let’s get the centre open and restart classes so we can go to work.’”
While there are pockets, particularly in the older areas of the city, where five-story buildings have been reduced to rubble one-story high, about 80 to 85 per cent of Kathmandu was not severely damaged. While many roads outside the city are open, the main road to Tibet is badly compromised.
Anyone thinking of visiting Nepal should do so with caution, she said.
“I think there are too many reports trying to make a blanket statement, like ‘Nepal is safe’ or otherwise,” she said. “There are places where you would not know the earthquake happened, like Pokhara and the Annapurnas, and there are other places where it is essential to find current and accurate information about trail conditions. People need tourism rupees, and they’re working hard to open the trails. But it’s best to go prepared in some areas – Manaslu with gear to stay in tents if necessary. I’m not sure how Langtang will be, but it is important to consider where you are going by the specific conditions in each area.”
Klatzel also cautioned against anyone thinking of donating anything other than money.
“Visit or make a cash donation,” she said. “Please think twice before sending tents and clothes since it’s often difficult to get them through customs, and people want tin roofs over their heads in the monsoon. Plus, it’s better to purchase relief goods in Nepal and contribute to the restoration of the local economy.”
To learn more, visit www.canadahelps.org/en/charities/core-international
The fundraiser takes place on Sept. 17 at St. Michael’s Church Hall at 713 7th Street, beginning at 7:30 p.m.
