Road to redemption – Help Nepal rise again

It takes just a few minutes, sometimes seconds, to lose everything in your life – family, friends, property hard-earned investments and sometimes, life itself. More than 7,500 people died in the earthquake in Nepal. To think that the final figure may cross 10,000 shows us how we are all on shaky ground.

The impact is much bigger than the official death toll pegged at 7,500 as on 5 May 2015. This devastating earthquake has killed the hopes of lakhs of Nepalese people.

Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) India has always been proactive in providing relief and rehabilitation post natural disasters. Our experience of tackling immediate and long-term needs in recent disasters in Jammu & Kashmir and Uttarakhand has taught us valuable lessons.

The moment we learnt of the earthquake measuring 7.9 on Richter scale hitting Nepal, our team at CAF India swung into action. Our Disaster Management team got together to formulate a strategy considering the most urgent needs during a calamity as big as this. While Nepal may have borne the brunt of the earthquake, more than 70 people were killed in India too. Within 24 hours, our donation appeal was created online to provide support to the victims. Our aim is to provide both, immediate (relief, medical, food, shelter,etc) as well as long term (rehabilitation) solutions, considering the magnitude of damage caused at different locations.

Next we tried to reach out to the Embassy of Nepal for the support work in their country. We are really grateful to them since they promptly issued a letter acknowledging our efforts. We sincerely thank the embassy for their encouraging words directed towards our relief and rehabilitation efforts.

Moved by the tragedy, we at CAF India reached out to Indian Football Team captain, Sunil Chhetri for our relief appeal in Nepal and India. The star footballer showed why he is admired off the football pitch as well when he readily agreed to lend support to this cause. Entreating to all to support CAF India’s efforts for relief and rehabilitation, Chhetri said, “Nepal will always hold a special place in my heart for its wonderful people and hospitality that I have experienced. Let’s come together and do all we can to help rebuild the lives of those affected by this calamity. I appeal to all to come forward and support CAF India in providing relief and rebuild the lives of the victims.”

However, we realized much more needed to be done, so that our efforts are impactful and benefits the victims of this tragedy. Without wasting much time, our Trustee, Viraf Mehta decided to visit Nepal to assess the ground situation so we can provide relief and rehabilitation that is most effective. Mr Mehta has been providing regular updates and his inputs from ground zero will help us move to the next phase of connecting with local NGOs and agencies working tirelessly to rebuild the Gorkha Kingdom.

CAF India is not going to rest easy either till Nepal rises from the quake ruins. We are committed to doing all we can to help Nepal stand on its feet again. The road to redemption is paved with difficulties. But CAF India is determined to help Nepal rise and shine, again!