NASO supports Relief Operations for Earthquake Victims in Nepal!

With the devastating earthquake on April 25, 2015, Nepal Astronomical Society (NASO) started supporting relief operations at different parts of Nepal in order to provide necessary food, shelter, water, health and sanitation, etc in Sindhupalchok, Rasuwa, Nuwakot, Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur. Our team provided rice, lentils, salts, oils, noodles, biscuits, black mats (insulator), blankets and tarpaulins to different villages at Nawalpur, Sindhupalchok; Dandagaon, Rasuwa (handovered to Nepal Army at Trishuli Hydropower as the situation was tensed and we were not able to go to Dandagaon due to landslides) ; Archale, Nuwakot; Sankhu and Kirtipur, Kathmandu and Taumadi, Bhaktapur.

Photo 1: Mr. Suresh Bhattarai, Chairman giving instruction for the volunteers for unloading the relief supports to Dandagaon, Rasuwa at distribution center, Santibazaar, Nuwakot.

NASO, in collaboration with Cygnus Aerial Photography, Bangladesh and in association with Nepal Academy of Science and Technology (NAST), Department of Geography at Tribhuvan University (TU), Department of Archeology of Government of Nepal conducted aerial survey of different damaged areas at four districts: Kathmandu (Kirtipur, Gangagu, Jamal, Sankhu), Bhaktapur ( Taumadi), Lalitpur (Bungamati) and Nuwakot (Manakamana VDC). 

Below is the short clip produced from our UAV operations at different location giving you some overview of the damage in Nepal:

We had meeting with Prof. Dr. Hira Bahadur Maharjan, Vice-Chancellor at Tribhuvan University and highlighted the importance UAV for rescue, survey, mapping, planning, etc. We also stressed that the university must have drones/UAV at its different departments and train faculties and students for UAV operation.

Photo 2: Mr. Bhattarai sharing the idea of National Drone Operation Workshop during a meeting organized at Kirtipur Hillside Hotel in association with Department of Geography.

We shared our intention of organizing National Level Drone Operation Workshop 2015 in collaboration with Cygnus Aerial Photography and other International partners to different national stakeholders: NAST, TU, Civil Aviation Authority Nepal (CAAN), Ministry of Science and Technology and Ministry of Defense. Our proposal was highly praised and every stakeholders agreed to participate in the workshop [Details will be available soon].

Photo 3: Our team after the meeting with Mr. Mahendra Singh Rawal, officiating Director General (second from left) at Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN)

Photo 4: Our team after the meeting with Dr. Shova Kanta Lamichhane (second from left), Executive Director at B.P. Koirala Memorial Planetarium, Observatory and Science Museum Development Board, Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of Nepal. Dr. Lamichhane is a member of Space Committee of Nepal.

Photo 5: Our team during a meeting with Rishi Shah, Academician at Nepal Academy of Science and Technology (NAST). Er. Shah is a member of Space Committee of Nepal.

We also started a crowdfunding campaign to support people of Sindhupalchok, the most affected district by the earthquake, on April 30 with a target of 50,000 USD. The campaign is live now until June 13, 2015 and we hope to raise substantial amount to support. As people are not desperate need for food  and they have somehow recovering from the trauma and building their temporary shelters by now (it's been a month since the disaster), we decided to work for schools of the affected areas. The fund raised from this campaign will be spend on supporting schools in construct their temporary shelters, to maintain their partially damaged building, building toilets, stationeries, etc. 

On May 25, 2015, Mr. Suresh Bhattarai, our chairman signed MoU with Mr. Dil Nath Puri, Head of District Education Office Sindhupalchok for our support to build temporary classrooms for schools at Nawalpur VDC. For time being, we have choosen only three schools, Nawalpur Secondary School (485 students), Sidhhartha Primary School (~100 students) and Takure Primary School ( ~100) and working on the module that last at least for 2 years. The Government of Nepal (GoN) has estimated that it will take two years to draft the code of conduct for the schools infrastructures in order to avoid potential damage if another big earthquake hits Nepal in future.

We are very grateful to all the extending hands to our initiative to support people in need and look forward for your continuous support in coming days as Nepal takes time to recover and rebuild. Certainly, as education is one our mandate to work in Nepal, we are doing our best to supports schools and look forward to support more schools in coming days. We think with all your support and encouragement and great involvement of Nepalese youths, we will be able to work together to rebuild Nepal after this devastation.

To support our crowdfunding campaign, please click here.