Chisapani Village

Poonam Tamang is a British citizen and works for a family in the UK. She happened to be on leave in Nepal when the earthquake struck. Her village of Chisapani, 54 kilometres from Kathmandu was devastated. Of the 220 houses in the village, only 2 remained standing and those are unsafe.

Poonam managed to make contact with her UK employer who then contacted Christopher. He was able to instruct Binod and Jagdish to assess the situation in the village, which they did, as a result of a detailed telephone conversation with Poonam and her husband Suraj. Once they understood the position they were able to make some recommendations.

Following a discussion with Poonam’s UK employer it was decided that she wished to support the whole village.

Our Initial Assessment

We discovered that when the earthquake struck, it not only destroyed the houses but a landslide followed and this buried the village food store leaving with nothing to eat. All 190 families were in desperate need of food.

How We Helped

Through the incredible generosity of one benefactor, who wishes to remain anonymous, we have been able to help the whole village.

We located 114 bags of rice (2850kg), which was a week’s supply. Due to the uncertainty of the situation in Nepal, with regard to looting and opportunists, we instructed Poonam to send a vehicle to Kathmandu with an escort to collect the rice, and it was safely delivered to Chisapani. They were all very grateful.

Following the initial help it was apparent that they all needed shelter. The Monsoon was fast approaching and 190 families needed housing. A quick calculation indicated that it would cost £43.00 to provide sufficient tin sheets to cover one house. Our benefactor agreed to fund this and once again a vehicle was sent to collect the tin sheets that we provided. All were delivered successfully to the village.

After a full assessment of the situation we calculated that further rations were needed and sent 220 x 30KG sacks of rice, 1KG Dhal and Soya cooking oil, sufficient to keep each family going for several weeks.

As with everyone else, the situation is under constant review and further updates will be posted in due course.