Community Challenge Nepal

Home to the majestic Mount Everest, landlocked Nepal is also one of the world’s poorest countries. A 2010/2011 national survey on living standards estimated that 25 percent of the population lives on the equivalent of less than US$1 a day.

According to the Nepali government, about 9.5 million people or 41 percent of the population live in inadequate housing. Such structures are typically supported by bamboo or old timber pillars, with mud walls and thatched roof. Water is often unsanitary and few dwellings have toilets or electricity.

 These dilapidated houses are also a fire risk; nearly 10,000 families lose their homes to fire every year. Thousands of others have their houses destroyed by landslides, floods and other natural disasters each year.

The recent earthquakes in Nepal in April and May, killed over 8500 people and injured more than twice as many.

Some estimate that the final death toll could top 10,000 people. Hundreds of people are still considered missing and more than 450,000 are displaced.

 Centuries-old buildings were destroyed at UNESCO World Heritage sites in the Kathmandu Valley.

Hundreds of thousands of people were made homeless with entire villages flattened, across many districts of the country. Over 284,455 houses have been destroyed and 234,102 have been damaged.

 The need for housing was massive before, now the task is even greater.