Rapid response in Nepal after worst earthquake in 80 years

On the morning of April 25, 2015, Nepal was shaken by a 7.8-magnitude earthquake. When the dust settled, thousands of people had died and buildings had come crumbling down. It was a Saturday, a day off in Nepal, which meant that the offices and schools that had closed were now closed. If it had been any other day, the death toll could have been much higher. 

The earthquake, the worst in the region in 80 years, occurred at a depth of just 6.8 miles – relatively shallow in geological terms – greatly magnifying its destructive effect, and would be followed by hundreds of aftershocks, including a 7.3 magnitude quake just 17 days later. 

More than 8,891 lives were lost, thousands of people were injured, and over 800,000 buildings and monuments were left destroyed or damaged. During the height of the emergency, some 188,900 people were temporarily displaced. Experts pegged direct damages and losses at a staggering $7 billion.

Within hours of the earthquake, Serve On sent out a deployment call to our IRT members. One of them, Abb Dhanani, also a trustee, was about to take off for his honeymoon, but he managed to get permission from his new (and very understanding) wife to join the deployment team and help those in need.

Within 24 hours of the earthquake happening, Serve On had deployed a team of eight.

Serve On’s small but highly skilled International Response Team was one of the first outside aid agencies on the ground, able to mobilise quickly while larger teams were still assembling their resources, unable to access the country because of the logistical chaos. 

The Serve On team in Nepal in 2015.

Benefiting from the relationship we already had with the Brigade of Gurkhas, Serve On’s volunteers got straight to work. It was soon able to move out of Kathmandu to provide the UN with valuable intelligence on the needs of villages outside of the capital, while doing what they could for those villagers themselves. 

The team deployed as an assessment team but was also able to provide water purification, 8,000 litres of safe, filtered water to drink, and technical search and rescue services. They assessed several collapsed or unstable buildings in Kathmandu before moving out to remote areas.

In many instances, they were the first responders arriving in affected villages, searching for people reported missing and feeding back vital information to the UN teams coordinating the aid effort. 

Serve On is proud to have worked hand in hand with several other organisations in Nepal, including UK ISAR and the UK Brigade of Gurkhas in Nepal. Serve On donated its lifesaving technical search equipment to the Brigade of Gurkhas to enhance their future response.

Joanna Lumley, Ambassador for Serve On, said, “I am so pleased and proud that Serve On International Response Team acted so fast. With precious skills and equipment needed in the search and rescue effort in Nepal, you truly make the difference between life and death for those trapped. Be the outstretched hand that reaches for them in the darkness and donate now, please.”