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Transitional shelter kit distribution begins in Nepal

One month on from the Nepal earthquake, Habitat for Humanity is helping communities in their recovery by distributing transitional shelter kits.

This week, Habitat Nepal built five demonstration houses in Kavre district with the help of local and trained volunteers. Habitat for Humanity is providing technical support on how to construct safe shelters and community members of PipalTaar have actively participated in learning the technology, from which they will build an additional 88 transitional shelters for themselves and their families.

Habitat’s transitional shelter kits include corrugated galvanised iron roofing, steel tubing, re-enforcing rods, fixings and tools – all of which can be reused for permanent house construction at a later stage.

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Community members participating in shelter kit construction

Transitional shelter kits cost roughly $310 and an estimated 5,000 kits are planned for distribution in the next two months.

For families like Ranju’s, the transitional shelter kits will make a great difference in their lives, and will assist in their recovery process.

“Two days back a very turbulent storm hit our village,” said Ranju, 34. “My children and I were holding on to the tarp as we were scared that it would fly off and all our belongings would get wet. My son told me then that he survived the earthquake but he will not be able to survive the storm. We held on to the tarp for an hour. Today I am so happy to get this transitional shelter as I am sure that I will be safe from heavy rainfall and storm.”

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Ranju with her children Reshma and Rohit.

Habitat will also begin building the first 100 permanent homes in the heavily damaged district of Kavre in the next two weeks.

Since the disaster struck on April 25, Habitat has been conducting rubble and debris removal and sending engineers to conduct technical assessments of houses that withstood the earthquake to see if families can safely return home. We have also distributed water backpacks to allow displaced families to transport and store drinking water. These efforts will continue in the coming weeks.

We are seeking additional funding for our Disaster Response Appeal as we plan longer term new home construction programs.

Click here to make a tax-deductible donation and help families who have lost their homes in the earthquake.

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Habitat for Humanity urges donors to make cash rather than in-kind donations. We are unable to accept or distribute goods donated by the public to communities affected by disasters. As part of our disaster recovery work, relief items are purchased locally or as close to the area as possible. For maximum speed and flexibility, and to ensure we supply the most needed aid materials, donating money is the best way to help people affected by an emergency. This empowers people to buy what they need the most and support local business.

If you wish to electronically transfer money into a bank account please email [email protected]

At this time, Habitat is not considering volunteer opportunities in Kathmandu due to the logistical challenges in the earthquake-affected areas. Volunteers will be needed most during the recovery phase and Habitat is currently assessing the damage and determining need for volunteer opportunities. If you’d like to register your interest in assisting in possible future rebuilding efforts, contact [email protected].

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