November 9: Stakeholders have drawn the attention of concerned authorities towards the possible outbreak of disease and gender-based violence in post-earthquake situation in Jajarkot and Rukum West districts which suffered significant damages in terms of human lives and property loss following the November 3 earthquake of magnitude 6.4.

CARE Nepal, a humanitarian aid organization fighting global poverty, said that all those involved in relief and rehabilitation works should focus on women and children as well as people with disabilities who are vulnerable in the post-earthquake scenario.

Mona Sherpa, country director of CARE Nepal, said that those involved in relief works also need to take into account the likelihood of gender-based violence (GBV) as well as an outbreak of communicable diseases, cold-related ailments, and waterborne diseases in the coming days due to the onset of winter and damaged infrastructures, including latrines, while designing long-term response efforts.

“These challenges further highlight the importance of a rapid and effective response to meet the immediate and long-term needs of the affected communities,” Sherpa said in a statement issued by CARE Nepal.

The organization has also pledged to provide psychosocial counseling to the survivors through its expert partners to help them cope with the trauma caused by the disaster.

The statement further said that CARE Nepal distributed relief supplies such as ready-to-eat and ready-to-cook foods, and kitchen utensils inclusive shelter kits, winterization kits, hygiene kits, dignity kits along with health and nutritional provisions to the quake survivors in collaboration with its local partners and the local governments.

 “CARE Nepal is committed to provide immediate relief and support to the communities affected by this disaster along with mid and long-term support in the rehabilitation of the affected communities. Our primary focus will be on the needs of women, girls, and individuals with disabilities,” added Sherpa.

The organization said it will also conduct Rapid Gender Analysis (RGA) for better and targeted response considering the specific needs of women and girls.

Other stakeholders have also recommended the government to pay attention to the potential psycho-social problems among the earthquake survivors in the quake-hit areas.    

A psychiatric doctor has underlined the need of stepping up psycho-social counseling, especially to the women and children who are in the state of fear due to earthquake, reports the state-owned RSS news agency.    

“Citizens have been mentally and psychologically traumatized in earthquake-hit areas,” RSS quoted psychiatric doctor of Karnali Province Hospital Purna Rawal as saying requesting the government run complete package of psycho-social programme in the quake-hit areas. 

According to RSS, the Karnali Province Government has deputed a team of psychosocial counselors to the field for counseling services.