The earthquake hit Nepal on 25th April between the capital of Kathmandu and the city of Pokhara killing thousands of people and causing widespread devastation. The area was further shaken by a series of aftershocks on 26th April. The majority of the population of the region have fled their homes fearing the aftershocks and are gathered in the surrounding areas, some in make shift camps. Transport and communications are severely disrupted.

We are urgently assessing needs

Our staff in Nepal are beginning to reach out to people in Kathmandu and assessing needs. We are currently mobilizing a team of technical experts from the surrounding area and beyond. We will start building sanitation facilities in the temporary camps working in partnership with UNICEF. Nepal is one of the world's poorest countries. Half of its 28 million population live below the poverty line.

'Our priority is to ensure that people affected have adequate humanitarian assistance and we are able to prevent secondary disasters, including outbreak of disease by providing safe water and critical sanitation support. Hundreds of thousands of displace people need urgent humanitarian assistance now - including children and women who are forced to be out in the open, huddled in groups with no food, safe water, or shelter.' Zubin Zaman, Oxfam India Deputy Director