Lex Kassenberg, CARE’s country director in Nepal, said all CARE staff are safe and accounted for. Kassenberg was standing atop a hill in Pachok, Lamjung district organizing a relief aid distribution when the earthquake hit. “I could see cracks start appearing in houses. People were in a complete panic, running towards open places, or to their houses if they had family there.”
CARE Nepal is sending reinforcements to Sindhupalchowk on Wednesday, including technical experts in water and sanitation.

Lucy Beck, a communications officer with CARE, was in Sindhupalchowk Wednesday participating in assessments in communities already badly affected by the first major earthquake. ”In villages our team has visited all remaining structures that were destroyed by the second quake. There was panic and there is still a lot of fear in the community. Rubble and rocks are still falling and there have been a number of strong aftershocks. Roads have been blocked so our team had to walk several hours to get access” reports Beck.

Over the next month CARE plans to distribute weather resistant emergency shelter to 30,000 people in preparation for the monsoon rains. In the coming week, vital food and shelter items are being distributed to villages in Sindhupalchowk and Dhading.

CARE is particularly concerned about the 14,000 women who are expected to give birth in Nepal over the next month. An estimated 2,000 of them are at risk of experiencing complications that require emergency obstetric care. CARE has started distributing reproductive health kits to villages in Gorkha this week that include essential medicines and supplies for birthing attendants to handle medical complications in delivery.

Photo Credit: Holly Frew/CARE