In April 2015, a devastating earthquake (magnitude 7.8) struck Nepal, and over 9000 people had lost their lives. Over 100,000 families had to be evacuated from their homes in the Himalayas, down to the valley in temporary tent shelters. It was estimated that a total of $9 billion in damage was caused by this earthquake in Nepal alone.
The earthquake triggered an avalanche on the Mount Everest later, killing more people on the Everest. Hundreds of thousands of people were made homeless with entire villages flattened, across many districts of the country. Centuries-old buildings were destroyed at UNESCO World Heritage sites in the Kathmandu Valley, including some at the Kathmandu Durbar Square, the Patan Durbar Square, the Bhaktapur Durbar Square, the Changu Narayan Temple, the Boudhanath stupa and the Swayambhunath Stupa. Geophysicists and other experts had warned for decades that Nepal was vulnerable to a deadly earthquake, particularly because of its geology, urbanization, and architecture.
We organized a fund raising event here in Minneapolis, to help those who had lost their homes, and were living in a horrible situation in temporary tents. Through our volunteers on the ground in Nepal, over a span of few weeks, we were able to assist 15 families with 10,000 Ruppees per family, to take care of their immediate needs.
We also distributed 20,000 Ruppees among poor locals in the city whose daily lives were indirectly disrupted by this earthquake.
These are some of the pictures of those who we had an opportunity to provide some monetary relief right after the devastating earthquake.