How Solar Power is Aiding Nepalese 7.8 Earthquake Victims
Now that earthquake number two has hit Nepal, the relief efforts for victims trying to reclaim their lives will need to be doubled over, but with solar power, those efforts will now be more sustainable.
When Nepal was rocked by a 7.3 magnitude earthquake recently, no one would have imagined that it would occur while more than 18,000 injured and hundreds of thousands more were still trying to recover from a previous earthquake that hit just two weeks prior.
At least half a million Nepalese are without homes and living in makeshift camps or among the ruins of their houses.
(Check out this video to see a compilation of various footage from the incident.)
Not to minimize the grieving that is occurring throughout Nepal, but there is always hope in the darkest of circumstances, and in this case it comes in the form of the sun – and people like Sandeep Giri. Giri is the CEO of Gham Power, a solar company that’s been operating in Nepal for the last five years. He was born and raised in Nepal.
Following the earthquake, Giri’s employees snapped to action and began deploying solar power systems to help power lights and mobile charging stations for people to contact family members. Her stations helped not just the displaced people of Nepal, but the relief workers in the midst of the chaos.
Giri wanted to do more.
“From a practical level, once your most basic needs like medical attention, food, water, shelter are addressed, or even while they are getting addressed, two issues stand out as a major problem,” says Giri. “First, you don’t want to be in the dark, as it’s scary, you don’t feel safe, and it is also very cumbersome to get, or administer relief without light. Second, in this day and age, your first instinct is to reach out for your loved ones to check if they are okay and let them know you are okay, and when you reach for your mobile phone, it’s dead and there is no place to charge it.”
Gham Power is collaborating with other local solar companies and working with the Global Nepali Professional Network to raise money to distribute as many solar power systems and microgrids as possible. They’ve launched a new campaign called Rebuild with Sun.
If you want to help with this solar-powered initiative to rebuild Nepal, you can contribute via their Indiegogo campaign.
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Article image credit: Milap Dwa