Federal Way-based World Vision sent a team of 205 staff to Nepal to assess the damage in rural areas after a 7.8-magnitude earthquake killed over 3,700 people.
A couple World Vision staff from Federal Way are also heading to Nepal today to help with relief efforts, said Amy Parodi, media relations director for World Vision.
Disaster management staff found both roads and trails blocked by landslide in some of the remote areas, making access difficult.
World Vision teams also found extensive damage and a need for basic survival supplies as they reached remote villages outside of Kathmandu, Nepal on Monday. Those supplies include food, potable water, household supplies and shelter.
Staff reported it can take as long as three days to walk to some of the most remote villages in Nepal from other towns, even when the roads are not blocked.
In one village, the earthquake destroyed all of the town’s 176 homes and 25 percent of the population are still missing, World Vision reports.
Matt Darvas of World Vision reached the village of Gorkha on Sunday.
“They’re telling me, ‘No one is getting in and no one is getting out,’” Darvas said in a World Vision media release. “Children are hungry, but most families store their food supplies in their homes, so when their homes collapsed, they lost their access to food.”
He added these villages are “scattered and dotted along steep mountainsides, and even helicopters are having difficulty landing with the heavy cloud cover.”
On Sunday, World Vision’s aid group began distributing shelter materials and blankets to about 1,000 families.
Additional supplies are being airlifted from a regional warehouse and include hygiene kits, cooking kits, mosquito nets, sleeping bags and sleeping mats, buckets and water purification tablets.
World Vision plans to reach at least 100,000 people in Bhaktapur, Gorkha, Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Lamjung districts with relief supplies, shelter, clean water and sanitation, and child protection, education and health programs.
The organization will also establish Child Friendly Spaces, in Kathmandu, Lamjung and Gorkha. These spaces are safe areas set up for play, music and activities for children so that they have a safe place to go while their families are in transition.
World Vision, a Christian international relief organization, is accepting donations to support its response to the earthquake. Donations can be made at www.worldvision.org, by texting NEPAL to 777444 (makes an automatic $10 donation), or by calling 1-888-562-4453 (1-888-56-CHILD).
