nepal earthquake1
Photo submitted by Nicole Dawes, former Altona resident now living in Nepal.

Mennonite Central Committee has stepped up its efforts in Nepal following a second earthquake earlier this week. The magnitude 7.3 quake occurred 185 miles outside the capital of Kathmandu, a location that Communications and Donor Relations Director Brad Reimer says was difficult to get to at the best of times and now it'll prove even more difficult for aid workers to access. "MCC has some people on the ground right now and there are some of our partners in the region where the second earthquake struck. We are just continuing our response we had initiated to start with." Reimer goes on to say that these quakes have traumatized citizens, noting people don't want to enter their homes - if they are still standing - for fear of the buildings collapsing on them. "You're always on edge that another quake is going to strike."

Reimer explains the work has started to make sure that people have what they need to get through the next couple of weeks including providing a month's worth of food, blankets, flashlights, water treatment supplies and household goods. "And this is in two regions were we have partner organizations. (The first region) is about six hundred households, and we usually estimate that there's about five to eight people in each household, so you can do the math on that. And then there's another location where we're doing similar work and it's assisting about eleven hundred households."

Meantime financial support continues to roll in to help fund these efforts. As of interview time Reimer figured about $300,000 had come in from Manitoba alone, he then noted another $100,00 to $200,000 had flowed in through online donations. "Considering that MCC's initial response to the earthquake was five-hundred thousand, Manitoba alone has raised that amount of money." Of course donations continue to pour in from across Canada and the United States.