Abstract
This study assesses how well government and nongovernmental organizations and others performed during emergency relief operations in Nepal after the country was struck by a massive 7.6 magnitude earthquake on April 25, 2015. The primary source of data for this study was face-to-face interviews of 302 respondents from 10 study sites in two earthquake-affected districts. Information collected through four focus group meetings was also used to supplement the survey data. The performance or effectiveness of relief operations was measured by developing an additive composite index score. Both disaggregated and aggregated scores reveal that the emergency materials provided to the earthquake survivors in Nepal were appropriate and adequate for their needs and the aid distribution was relatively fair and timely. Analyses of survey data further suggest that the emergency aid was uniformly distributed among respondents of the two selected districts. Based on the study findings, we provide several recommendations to improve relief operations in future disasters.
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Notes
Administratively, Nepal is divided into five development regions (far-western, mid-western, western, central, and eastern) and 75 districts.
Each district in Nepal has several municipalities (MPs) and Village Development Committees (VDCs). MPs are cities having at least some minimum criteria of population and infrastructure. VDCs comprise of rural population, while SMCs are sub-metropolitan cities.
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Acknowledgments
This research was supported by National Science Foundation’s RAPID (Award Number 1547554) Grant to study contribution of linking networks in disbursing emergency assistance among 2015 Nepalese earthquakes survivors. The authors thank Janu Dhital, Bharat Acharya, Manu Mishra, Amar Larma Tamang, Meen Kumar Shrestha, Roshani Shrestha, and Ganga Ghalan Tamag for help with data collection in Nepal.
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Paul, B.K., Acharya, B. & Ghimire, K. Effectiveness of earthquakes relief efforts in Nepal: opinions of the survivors. Nat Hazards 85, 1169–1188 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-016-2627-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-016-2627-z