Given the grim scenario, managing shelter and food for the displaced is going to be a tough task.  The government has started the construction of humanitarian staging areas in three different places inside the Valley, where thousands of people could be accommodated at a time. These humanitarian staging areas will serve as the points to carry out relief and rescue operations and provide assistance to the victims after the disaster.

The constructions of earthquake resilient shelters are underway at Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA), Tribhuvan University (TU) and Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC) Khumaltar. Among the 83 open spaces identified by the government for evacuation and regrouping, these three are the largest ones.

The TU (875,043 sq metres) and NARC (305,470 sq metres) can accommodate around 118,100 people at a time. According to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA), the infrastructure in TIA will be used to receive international support during emergency.

Earthquake resilient helipads would also be set up inside the TIA to establish connection with the rest of the world in case of disaster. “Even if the airport is hit by the disaster, the helipads could be used to receive international support,” said Rameshwor Dangal, joint-secretary at MoHA.

Besides the helipads, all three humanitarian staging centres will equipped with fuel storage centres, warehouses with food and drinks, medicines and other rescue kit that are necessary during the emergency.

In addition, there will be earthquake resilient buildings with round-the-clock water supply system in place to shelters the victims. The humanitarian stage centres are being developed with the support of World Food Programme, Department for International Develoment, Oxfam and International Organization for Migration.

According to MoHA, the construction of seismic resilient emergency water system has already been completed in Kirtipur. A water reservoir and supply system with the capacity of 50,000 litres has already been installed on the TU premises. The reservoir equipped with a water pump and regular electricity back-up will have continuous supply of drinking water at the rate of three liters per second.

The water supply from the project

will be adequate for some 3,000 people per day.

Similarly, construction of a deep tube well and back-up system are also nearing completion on the NARC premise. Various government reports have shown that the earthquake

with the intensity of 1934 (8.4 on the Richter scale) would destroy 95 percent of the drinking water system in Kathmandu.

 The humanitarian staging centres in TU and NARC will be operated by the users groups formed in respective areas. Starting in 2012, the vulnerability mitigation programme is being launched in different wards of Kritipur Municipality and Lalitpur Sub-Metropolitan City as a preparedness measure against earthquake.

The MoHA has also constituted a seven-member committee to monitor the implementation, inter-agency coordination and facilitation relating to disaster management the open zones.