WUNRN
NEPAL – ESTIMATES SHOW 126,000 PREGNANT WOMEN AFFECTED BY EARTHQUAKE
Earthquake
survivors survey the damage in Bungmati, on the outskirts of Kathmandu, Nepal.
© UNFPA Nepal/Santosh Chhetri
UNFPA – 29 A, New York/BUNGMATI, Nepal – Needs are quickly escalating in Nepal, in the aftermath of the
7.8-magnitude earthquake. The most recent UN estimates indicate more than 5,000 have been killed and
8 million people have been affected.
Based on the latest available data, UNFPA now estimates some 2 million women
and girls of reproductive age are among those affected – including some 126,000
pregnant women.
Laxmi Shakya, 31, gave birth just three days before the quake. © UNFPA
Nepal/Santosh Chhetri
The
Government of Nepal has declared a state of emergency. Disease risks are a
growing concern, and communities are sleeping outside for fear of aftershocks,
which continue to convulse the area.
Women
and girls are among the most vulnerable. UNFPA has rushed the delivery of
reproductive health kits, which contain the supplies required to support safe
childbirth. UNFPA is also supplying dignity kits, containing essential hygiene
supplies for women and girls of reproductive age, including soap and sanitary
napkins.
UNFPA
and partners are also working to prevent gender-based violence, which is known to
increase in the aftermath of disasters.
View from the ground
Bungmati,
on the outskirts of the capital, Kathmandu, is one of places hardest hit by the
earthquake. Survivors are crowding into temporary camps, with many living under
hastily strung-up tarpaulin.
Sanu Chori Maharjan, 36, with a group of women and children in a temporary
shelter in Bungmati. Ms. Maharjan was on the roof of her home when the quake
struck. © UNFPA Nepal/Santosh Chhetri
Women
and girls urgently need support, survivors told UNFPA. Nursing mothers, women
and adolescent girls all emphasized the need for nutritious food, sanitary
napkins, warm clothes, soap and medicines.
Sanu
Chori Maharjan, 36, was on the roof of her three-story home when the earthquake
struck. She was lucky to have escaped unharmed. Now she and her 9-year-old son
are living with other women and children in a temporary shelter.
Nursing
mothers have a particularly acute need for nourishment and hygiene supplies,
Ms. Maharjantold UNFPA.
Laxmi
Shakya, 31, is one such nursing mother. She had delivered her second baby just
three days before the quake. She was breastfeeding her infant son when the
ground began to shake, said. Ms. Shakyaand her children were not hurt, but they
are now living outside, and their future is uncertain.
Fifteen-year-old
Sharalata Bramacharya says girls need hygiene supplies, including sanitary
napkins. Her family is living in a temporary shelter, and she and her mother
have been able to collect drinking water from a nearby well. Others are not so
fortunate – water scarcity is a major
humanitarian concern.