Ground aid in Nepal

Swiss disaster relief experts on the ground in Nepal explain how they are assisting local people in the aftermath of the earthquake. (SRF/swissinfo.ch)

Essential tools for cleaning up rubble and fixing houses are urgently needed in Nepal. Switzerland has sent supplies for 2,000 households. Self-help kits should help people in remote villages to retrieve belongings from their homes.

The experts first visit a heavily damaged suburb of Kathmandu. Volunteers are clearing rubble from the houses with their bare hands. It’s too early to say how great the damage actually is. 

The Swiss unit then moves on to more remote areas where little help has arrived so far. For many relief teams the journey into the hills outside Kathmandu is too hard to make. The Swiss unit makes a stop in a village where almost all homes have been destroyed and where the local headmaster is in charge of coordinating the clean-up work. He says they don’t even have simple implements like screwdrivers or pliers to remove nails and screws.