The Seven Women Response

DONATE TO SEVEN WOMEN EARTHQUAKE RELIEF FUND ON OUR WEBSITE Over 3000 people are dead. Over 6000 are injured. Homes are gone, and temples have been levelled. Villages are isolated and cities are rubble.

Saturday's 7.8-magnitude earthquake is the biggest natural disaster to hit Nepal in 80 years.

We are devastated by the deaths, injury and suffering the earthquake has caused. Our staff members are still experiencing aftershocks of up to 5.5 as of a few hours ago.

Our Seven Women Kathmandu team are all alive and safe. and are taking refuge now in the building of the Seven Women headquarters.

Over the last few days our management team has been gathered in large public spaces with thousands of others.

In this environment of intense panic and worry they have been busy mobilising people to collect funds to buy food to share and collect rubbish to minimise the spreading of germs.

But the remote villages in Newacot where Seven Women work have been very badly hit. Seven Women will be focusing most of our support efforts in this area.

Our team has been in contact with our Seven Women village literacy teachers who survived the earthquakes but are surrounded by many who didn’t. Reports from the villages have been that most houses have collapsed and livestock dead.

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There is lack of food, water, and shelter for those who survived. It is uncertain when the Seven Women Team will be able to travel to these remote places due to the landslides which have blocked roads, but as soon as we can enter safely, we will be there assisting with food, water, shelter and clothes.

The neighbouring village of Betini only started their literacy classes earlier this month. We are still trying to contact members of the village, but so far there has been no answer from anybody.

UPDATE: We have since heard from the Seven Women team in Betini. Again, the team is safe but village has been destroyed, and there are many casualties.

We know that some villages in the Newacot district have been wiped out.

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We are very concerned about these villages, which are inhabited by approximately 1500 people. We will be providing resources bought with donations as soon as possible.

HOW SEVEN WOMEN IS RESPONDING

Our staff will stay at our Seven Women Headquarters in Kathmandu until the aftershocks end. The house had little damage from the earthquake, and is right now operating as an open house where people can come for food and shelter. After this they will be doing 'outreach' in the streets.

Seven Women will continue to assess the immediate needs and respond appropriately with short term and longer term recovery measures.

Immediate needs include food, blankets, clothes and immediate shelter such as plastic sheets. The villages will also need medical kits and paracetamol.

In the coming months they will need support for building houses, temporary shelters, and support for orphans and those with no family left.

In the long term they will need income generation and we will continue the Seven Women Program.

HOW YOU CAN HELP

You can donate for our emergency relief fund through this link:

http://sevenwomen.org/donate

If you would like to make a direct deposit our details are:

Seven Women

BSB: 013338

Account: 208591751

(Donations over $2 are tax deductible)

We are putting our Seven Women Programs on hold. For the next three months every donation on our website will go towards our emergency relief fund. 100% of your donation will be invested in the people we work with at Seven Women.

The money will be spent on food, shelter, clothing and bedding. They will be bought from local businesses in Nepal and transported to the areas most affected by the earthquake.

This is what your money can buy:

  • $10- Socks and underwear
  • $15- Tarps for temporary shelter
  • $35- Emergency clothing for one person
  • $50- Warm blankets for a family or food for a family for a week
  • $100- All of the above
  • $200- Contributes towards materials for rebuilding for one family

You can also donate material items.

The following items are most useful:

  • Bed sheets
  • Blankets of any kind
  • Clothing (small and medium sizes only):
    • Shorts
    • T-Shirts
    • Shirts
    • Long pants
    • Underwear
    • Socks

You can  contact the following people to arrange collection:

Melbourne:

Nora Woollard (Ivanhoe) on 0417998009

Suzanne Dowd (Bayswater) on 0402702224

Sydney:

Fiona Capon Kwok (Kingsford) on 0418737120

Jo Gurung (Cove North) on 0413975242

Please note that financial donations are much more helpful than material donations as we are able to buy things in Nepal immediately and adapt our purchases to changing needs.

However, material items will still be valuable. There will be many people who need assistance for many weeks to come and our collection will be sent over after the current emergency supplies in the following weeks.

Also, please save the date of June 19 as we will be holding a fundraising event.

I feel confident that with Nepali people's resilience and community spirit and with your generosity we can rebuild these areas and continue our programs to empower whole villages.

Thanks for your ongoing generosity,

Warm Regards,

Steph and and the Seven Women Team.