Nepal earthquake - one month on

Since the earthquake that hit Nepal on 25 April, CBM, with partner organisations, has reached more than 3000 people through outreach camps in some of the worst-hit and least-accessible districts.

We are using the knowledge and resources of Nepalese Disabled People's Organisations (DPOs), and working in close cooperation with the coordination mechanisms set up in the country, to ensure that not only our response but those of mainstream relief organisations are fully inclusive.

Our emergency team, based in Kathmandu, was functioning in the hours immediately after the earthquake and a strategy is in place to continue this work through the first phase and beyond.

Since 25 April, CBM has been working to assess the situation and to develop an inclusive response.

  • Within the first 24 hours CBM Emergency Response Unit had made contact with our Nepal country office and with all partners in Nepal, and had ascertained that all staff were safe
  • A local Emergency Response Team (ERT) was quickly assembled from in-country staff, and CBM Emergency Programme Manager and other experienced international staff arrived within 3-4 days
  • In  the days and weeks that followed, this team visited our partners in many of the worst-affected areas, assessing the needs and building strategy for a disability-inclusive response

Strategic response

We have been responding to the needs of injured people since day two (having reached more than 3,000 people already), and now have a full response strategy in place which will:

  • Continue to identify needs of communities, and especially persons with disabilities
  • Ensure that persons with severe injuries and disabilities have access to timely, contextually appropriate medical, orthopaedic, physical rehabilitation and psychosocial support services
  • Work with mainstream relief organisations to ensure that persons with disabilities are included in their emergency/recovery programmes
  • Build the capacity of our local resources to ensure the continuation of this work in the longer-term

Active participation of persons with disabilities

We aim to ensure our response is inclusive. This does not only mean reaching the most at-risk groups such as persons with disabilities; it also means utilising the knowledge and skills of these people in our response.

To this end, we are working closely with people with disabilities in Nepal, through the networks of Disabled Person’s Organisations (DPOs).

More reading

Nepal earthquake

CBM emergency team working with partners to provide for immediate and long-term needs in Nepal - including people with disabilities

Humanitarian Action

CBM working with local partners to ensure that people with disabilities are included at all levels of disaster preparedness and response