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Nepalese helping Nepalese

Airlifting construction supplies to Langtang in Nepal. Photo: Langtang Conservation Committee

August 11, 2016

By Simon Chambers

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After the devastating earthquakes in Nepal in April and May of 2015, PWRDF was approached by Nepalese Canadian Community Services, a Toronto-based group supporting Nepalese expatriates living in Canada, who wanted to work with PWRDF to respond to the disaster in their homeland.

They raised over $13,000 for reconstruction (full story) which they wanted to use to rebuild homes for families who lost everything in the quakes.  PWRDF, working with the Lutheran World Federation in Nepal, identified the community of Langtang for this work.  Langtang is a village located high in the mountains near the Tibet Autonomous region.

Langtang was damaged in the first earthquake, but was affected far more in the second quake.  116 houses were destroyed, and most of the community’s infrastructure- roads, monasteries, the community centre, and open spaces- were gone.

All 116 households who lost their homes were provided with materials to rebuild—corrugated iron sheets, hammers and nails, roofing plain sheets and more.  Langtang’s remote location in the mountains and the destruction of the roads in the earthquakes made delivery of the materials very challenging.  Helicopter lifts were required to bring in the materials.

Once the materials had arrived, families were able to work together to rebuild their homes.  As more government support from the Nepalese government becomes available, families will upgrade the homes they have already built to be even stronger and longer lasting, integrating the materials provided by PWRDF into future construction.

Thanks to the work of Nepalese Canadians, PWRDF and the Lutheran World Federation, over 100 families in Langtang now have homes again, and are able to focus on rebuilding their communities and livelihoods.

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