On the frontline in Nepal as aid finally begins to arrive
With Nepalis in villages destroyed by last week’s earthquake becoming ever more desperate for help, relief agencies have defended themselves against criticism that the international response has been sluggish.
Kathmandu‘s small international airport has been swamped and a serious backlog of aid has built up. Severe incapacity there, in combination with difficulties posed by Nepal’s geographical challenges are cited by emergency response coordinators as the main reasons why stocks still haven’t reached those who most need it.
“You have aid from every part of the globe coming into Nepal. The airport is not that big,” said Matthew Schraeder, from the French Red Cross. “We’ve got stuff stacked on the runways.”
Pallets of intl aid to help victims of #NepalQuake at #khatmandu airport. Local NGOs say hard getting it out #c4news pic.twitter.com/VJQUkuSZh9
— Thom Walker (@thompwalker) May 1, 2015
We saw just 1 forklift #khatmandu getting aid off – lacking vital equipment to speed up process #Nepalquake #c4news pic.twitter.com/IjCSAoXWYP
— Thom Walker (@thompwalker) May 1, 2015
The backlog has caused such congestion that incoming cargo aircraft have been denied landing slots. Parking bay space is very limited and there are insufficient ground staff to handle the sudden influx of emergency aid cargo.
Oxfam flew in relief supplies on Thursday on a plane shared with the British Red Cross and the UN children’s agency, Unicef. It was forced to circle for hours before it was able to land, said the agency’s spokesperson here, Lisa Rutherford.
Oxfam staff at the cargo terminal were hopeful of being able to move the stock out quickly though. Medicins Sans Frontieres also said they had been able to get their stocks out, despite the clogged airport.
The UN’s World Food Programme has erected five cavernous tented warehouses, called rubbhalls, at the airport cargo terminal but when Channel 4 News found relief logistics personnel there exasperated.
There is only one fork lift truck available to shift hundreds of tonnes of cargo. Every time its operator shifted palates from one agency into a rubbhall, another would rush over and hijack the forklift.
“Once we get the stock off the runway and into the rub halls, which is already happening, things will start moving faster,” said Mr Schraeder.
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“Logistics is looking at setting up hubs in the field. Getting the stuff into the field is going to be an issue as well. It will take time. When you look at Nepal as a country, it’s mountains. You can’t swing a cat without hitting a mountain here.”
“The most urgent needs are outside Kathmandu,” said Padma Priya, MSF spokesperson.
“Primary access to remote areas has had to be by helicopter. We have teams moving by road,” she said, “and we are now exploring the possibility of taking relief materials as far as we can by truck and then trekking them into the remote areas on foot.”
Local Nepali NGOs who have, in recent days, been at the vanguard of the disaster response effort, have fared less well in getting donated aid out of the airport cargo terminal. They have been frustrated by layers of bureaucracy, which, until yesterday evening required their obtaining permission papers from three different government ministries.
Jeevan Bhurtel, from the Nepali group Public Health Concern Trust, had spent three days at the airport trying to sort out documentation which would release a consignment of tarpaulins and basic survival equipment that had been sent from China.
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They insisted on giving us recommendation letters from each ministry and once the papers are OK, the goods are OK, you can release the things. And we’ll get it. We have a big problem because the situation is very difficult.
A senior official from Nepal’s Ministry of Home Affairs, Sagar Mani Barajuli, denied there was any problem with Nepalese bureaucracy and insisted this was not the reason for the hold-up.
Channel 4 News drove three hours north into Sindhupalchok, an area that was severely damaged in the quake. Aid trucks are now moving north – we saw about 20, including one belonging to Save the Children.
In the small town of Khadichaur, sacks of rice were being distributed to people from surrounding villages which have been completely flattened. It was the first aid delivery in six days and tempers frayed as desperate people queued to receive their quota.
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The rice, however, turned out to have been donated by three local businessmen. No foreign aid supplies had arrived in the area.
The extreme isolation of the worst-affected mountain communities has complicated the delivery of aid and, even if the promised additional helicopters arrive soon, it will remain a painfully slow process.
At a news conference in Kathmandu, the UN’s head of humanitarian aid, Baroness Amos, said: “Of course we are worried it is taking so long to get to people who desperately need aid. But it is very very hard to see how we are going to get to them.”
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She said she had discussed with the Nepali government the offer of additional helicopters. “Even when those other assets arrive,” she said, “it is still going to be extraordinarily difficult.”
Matthew Schraeder of the French Red Cross said: “Is it happening as fast as everyone wants it to? No. It never will. But will we get it out there? Yes we will. It just takes time.”
Pictures taken by @raulgaab
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