They don't have to go near the villages if the fear is they might bring down weak houses. They could land in valleys some distance from the villages. But these helicopters are the difference between no help at all and some help in most remote villages.
The authorities are saying no because (1) coordinating all the incoming help has been tough, but that is a bad excuse, the problem should be that not enough help is coming in, it can not be that too much help is seen coming in, there is a huge unmet need, (2) when you fly in relief materials from the Kathmandu airport, you are bypassing the Nepal government machinery - corrupt, inefficient, sub par - and that hurts a lot of feelings at many different levels, you are challenging many people's authorities, they don't fear collapsing houses, they fear what they see as a collapse in their authorities, they want all help to reach the poor through them, this helicopter feels too much like direct help, and (3) the bean counters in the Nepal Government think the money the UK government is going to spend on these Chinooks is money that the UK government might otherwise give directly to the Nepal government if the helicopters are not allowed, but if they allow the helicopters, there will be less money for them to play with.
The truth is, these helicopters are needed, badly so. The monsoon is at the doorsteps. The monsoon is the real earthquake. And it is on its way.
command centers at the central level under the secretary of Ministry of Home Affairs and in districts under Chief District Officers were established within two hours of the first earthquake on April 25 ...... trained security personnel were deployed and helicopters sent for search and rescue operations in all the affected districts immediately. ........ Central Disaster Relief Committee meeting followed by the meeting of secretaries took place on the same afternoon and it took more than a dozen important decisions to mobilize resources for search and rescue. On the same day, all agencies dealing with essential services like communication, power, road, water supply and transportation, etc. were asked to run 24/7. Water supply was a bit sluggish, as were transportation and power service. The delay in resuming road maintenance and water supply was due to the unavailability of many skilled operators who were themselves victims of the disaster. On the other hand, the communication sector was among the quick respondents. ........ Many public servants resumed their service, risking their lives, even amidst repeated aftershocks. An electrical worker fell off a pole in Kathmandu while repairing transmission line due to an aftershock. But major road blockades were cleared by Sunday evening, power in many places in Kathmandu Valley had resumed by that time, and communication improved a lot. Around 22,500 public servants, 65,000 army personnel, 45,000 police and 25,000 Armed Police Force were at work by Sunday afternoon. ........ we have rough data from the VDCs about the number of affected households, schools and health posts that collapsed as well as public utilities that were damaged. ..... Recently, we have deployed about 1,800 officers in 14 affected districts, along with an 11-member team including doctors and engineers for each VDC. ....... This team will help control post disaster epidemic, collect data of losses, distribute relief materials and prepare physical plan. ....... Teams led by secretaries at the district level and joint secretaries in each constituency were deputed on the fourth day of the disaster. This is the highest-level deployment ever at the local level. As of today, altogether 56 joint secretaries and 14 secretaries are mobilized for this. ........ Our public servants were involved in search, rescue, treatment and maintenance of public utilities. ........ Transport entrepreneurs' apathy to the trouble of commoners after earthquake was a shocking phenomenon in a civilized society. There was similar response from the suppliers/manufacturers of essential services. People working there could not demonstrate magnanimity in these troubled times. ......... Even after facing this great tragedy some people were engaged in self-serving activities. Essential service providers, almost all, were out of business in Kathmandu after April 25 demanding water, tents, transportation and other essentials services from the government. How a poor government can supply all those services without their help? ........ We have requested every individual and organization to coordinate with CDOs at district level. One can help CDOs to make sure relief materials reach the needy. There have been false media reports about the government trying to control individual efforts, barring private sector's efforts, etc. Same bloggers used derogatory words against the government. ..... The PM's Fund is used in relief and rescue. The major contributor of this fund is the Government itself. A separate window is created to ensure quick release of fund in case of emergency without any hassles under present budgetary system. The record from the past several years proves that a ninety five percent of the contribution is from government's treasury. This goes through three channels and is fully accounted for and audited by Auditor General and is scrutinized by the CIAA in case of discrepancies.......... But we believe that no one can collect donations in the name of disaster from general public without prior government approval. This is the law of the land. ...... If the people of social and political stature derogate, demoralize, haggle with and try to use public officials for petty/personal or institutional benefit, the efficiency of this moderately operating system will be affected. ......... Some of you have lauded foreign workers while underrating national response. ...... Glorifying outsiders or non-governmental sector and belittling national system only strengthens outsiders and weakens the country. ............. Let us make government system strong and capable by joining hands with it, and making it accountable. ....... With the help of civil society, learned people and private sector working together, the government can hope to ensure equitable distribution. Otherwise, the powerful will continue to grab more and more, at the cost of the deprived. ....... With a stronger government, our national capabilities to deal with foreigners will be strengthened.
I get the impression he has attempted to dodge some of the concrete questions that have been raised. There is a vague appeal to work together. And there is no concrete proposal for a new level of transparency.
A few suggestions (first, great work, as in great work on the ground, but also great work putting together this video --- almost equally important):
Put out shorter clips (3-5 minutes) almost daily, mostly to do with work on the ground. Your public Facebook page is your hub.
Always conclude by asking for donations. Make it easy for people to donate.
Target the global Nepali diaspora, but don't ignore the locals. Set up a missed call mechanism perhaps?
"Sell" the numbers. Moving around information is almost as important as moving around food, water tablets and basic medicine. Show the world you have a great bang for the buck. Impact per dollar, if you will.
Don't restrict yourself to Nepali donors. Anyone anywhere on the planet can donate. In fact, consider spending 1% of your proceeds on Facebook ads. Or get donors to sponsor that.
The short term needs are food, water purifying tablets, and basic medicine, and tents/tarpaulins. The immediate long term needs are house reconstruction. Build the big picture by gathering information from every possible source. How many are impacted? How many have need? How are the needs being met? What is the unmet need? Show that you are doing good work, but it is a drop in the ocean. That you provide a great bang for the buck (low overhead), but you face a resource crunch.
Getting that information out there, those concrete numbers, would be a big help. Ordinary Americans (and Indians and British and Japanese and others) will donate directly to you if you communicate well. Facebook is that platform. 100% real time online transparency is the weapon to use.
This video is great, but also upload another one with English subtitles.
If you can show the world that what you are doing is 20 times cheaper than the foreign governments and agencies trying to provide end to end solutions, that just might end up being your top contribution. That might not get you the foreign government funds, but ordinary Americans (and Indians and British and Japanese and others) will step in.
Good work is not enough, it also has to scale. Looks like you went from 50 to 500 to 1100 volunteers. Go to 5,000 to 50,000. It has to be that fundraising is the only constraint. And that fundraising has to be on a war footing, and global. Nepalis who participated in your virtual #withNepal event now need to help you with this. You rope them in by creating your daily 3-5 minute video which always end with a strong pitch for people to donate.
Also play a watchdog role. People in the affected areas should learn to call you to say things like "I am from such and such place, this is the scale of devastation, and we have not received any help yet" or "Help came but went to all the wrong people, the true needy did not get it." Those audio recordings could be part of the video clips. Raw audio.
Work closely with the group (I believe KLL) that is doing the crowd sourced map. That is the closest thing to 100% online transparency we have right now.
Always try to communicate the big picture. As in, there is a need for 500,000 tents, we have sent out 1500, other organizations and agencies have sent out 200,000 as of ___________ and we believe there is an unmet need of _________ tents.
The hotline is an awesome idea.
Create one task force just for a robust online discussion on what might be the best options for reconstruction of houses. What is everyone else saying? What are some of the best ideas in the local context? What is the need on the ground? What kind of help can be expected? What might be some of the local self help ideas? What mistakes are to be avoided?
You say resurgence. What do you mean?
Now might not be the best time. But keep collecting all possible data/information that can be seen as evidence of incompetence and corruption on the part of those in power, and at the right time, maybe in a few weeks, when one round of help has already reached most of those in need, start a political campaign where you say we can do better. And there the membership through missed call needs to go national. Because those who messed up can not be allowed to stay at the help for five years. And this Relief/Reconstruction/Resurgence will be at least a five year marathon. Give people an alternative. A sound political alternative. In short, plot a political offensive.
Also act a watchdog to foreign governments and agencies. Challenge some of their mental frameworks. Challenge them on the maximum bang for the buck. What is their ROI (Return On Investment)? Is it poor? Share that with their taxpayers. Give them options to work through organizations like yours.
Which are the Top 10 organizations? With the maximum impact, efficiency, transparency?
Do not ignore Kathmandu valley. The valley also has need. It also has resources. And it might be your "Delhi!" The political stepping stone.
Start an Adopt A Family program. You connect a sponsoring person or family globally to a family in need in Nepal. The help is for house reconstruction and basic livelihood needs.
Reach out to Elon Musk. Ask him to pitch in. If he does, the media publicity that will generate will bring in much more from many people. Ask Musk to build a Mangal Tower in Kathmandu in place of Dharahara. Free WiFi across the Valley. FYI: Musk has a soft spot for the Khan Academy. You should be able to tug him.
The goal of the daily 3-5 minute video is fundraising. That's it. Let there be no doubt.
Go directly to platforms like Indiegogo for the same.
The last 10 seconds in the video are not well done. If someone wants to donate, all the information should be right there. Your PayPal account ID, your Western Union ID, bank account. No?
Summary: Great work, keep it up, scale like crazy.
The announcement was seen as an attempt by the ruling Nepal Congress Party to seize control of millions of pounds of aid donations being sent from around the world and raised fears that it could be allocated for political considerations rather than humanitarian need. .... Some groups have privately said they will halt their earthquake relief fundraising until the threat of their donations being seized by the government is removed. ........ More than 6,000 were killed, several thousand remain missing, and more than 10,000 were injured. An estimated 70,000 homes were destroyed and more than half a million were badly damaged. The campaign to raise relief funds was dampened by the statement, which caused concern among donor governments...... Foreign aid officials said while it would not stop them deciding how their aid would be spent, it may intimidate smaller NGOs, including many from Britain, who operate social work projects in the country and have raised considerable sums for earthquake relief. ..... The statement was dismissed by foreign governments which said the Nepal government was beset by political wrangling between the Nepali Congress and its Communist coalition partners and had a poor record of aid distribution. ...... "There is no way they're going to co-opt anyone's funds. They might think that but donors will never allow it to happen. The government does not have the capability to run this, that's the reality."
But less than a week later, the efficiency of Modi’s response — part of a wider effort to improve ties with the region since he took office — is having an unintended consequence: It’s made clear just how underequipped and dysfunctional Nepal’s own government has been in the aftermath of the earthquake. ..... Nepal brought up media coverage of India’s response in a meeting with high-ranking officials, triggering a diplomatic flare-up that’s gone all the way to Modi’s office, said a senior Indian official in Kathmandu who asked not to be identified because the subject is politically sensitive. India has had to spend time doing damage control that has distracted from relief efforts, the official said. ....... “What kind of government do we have here? I have not seen a drop of water or food in four days,” the shopkeeper said. “Maybe if we had a leader like Modi who took charge and was decisive in his actions, things would not be this bad.” ...... A front-page headline on The Himalayan Times on Thursday encapsulated the impatience: “Govt slow in distributing relief.” The day before, another front page story said “relief has been pouring in from all corners of the world but the government has no clue about how to get it distributed among the needy, nor is it willing to hold anyone accountable ...” ....... the problem in Nepal is compounded by national politics that were already fragile before parts of the country were torn apart on Saturday. ...... Faced with damages that the country’s finance minister says will exceed $10 billion (U.S.), about half the size of the nation’s economy, Nepal’s 28 million citizens look increasingly vulnerable. ........ “We, of course, all want to leave Nepal in charge,” Wendy Sherman, U.S. under secretary for political affairs, told reporters in New Delhi on Wednesday. “It is their country — how they want to proceed. But I know that they could not proceed forward in this overwhelming disaster. When you have a disaster like this, you’re in trauma.” ..... “All this talk of a new constitution and a new government is an embarrassment — this government is failing its people,” said Magar, a 33-year-old taxi driver in Kathmandu. “What we should do is beat them up and kick them out.”
The idea would be for Elon Musk to build a tall tower where the Dharahara stood, it can be a metal structure like in Paris, it can have solar panels. It would function to provide free WiFi across Kathmandu valley. He can have it called Musk Tower, if he wants. Or Mangal Tower, Mangal being the Nepali word for Mars. What say you, Elon?
