The 7.9 Magnitude jolt that shook the country on April  25 killed more than 2,900 people in the district. One-third of the lives were lost in the constituency 3 alone, which consists of 24 Village Development Committees (VDC). Around 103,000 people live in about 18,000 households in the area. Like in other parts of the quake-affected rural areas, almost all buildings made of stones and mud here have suffered damages during the temblor, with many of them rendered uninhabitable.

With the government slow in providing immediate relief to the victims, especially to those who live in the countryside, SEBS began collecting monetary aid immediately after the quake hit to finance the relief material. Birendra Bahadur Basnet, the Managing Director of Buddha Air Nepal and also a Budhanilkantha alum, contributed Rs 5 million to the relief fund set up by the school’s alumni. According to Rabindra Maharjan, leader of the team which dropped the consignment on Tuesday, members of SEBS and friends of the school have been contributing to the fund as well.

“We do not want to take over the government’s responsibility of providing relief material. We want to put pressure on it to act swiftly and help those in need,” said Maharjan.

The relief material was handed over to the army at the Bhimkali Barracks in Melamchi on Tuesday. The barracks currently function as the distribution centre for relief items in the area. After the relief freight is entered into the books maintained by the army, an all-party relief distribution mechanism formed at the level of the constituency decides on the amount of material to be distributed in the VDCs based on their population size. The politicians then send word to the VDC secretaries and the VDC-level all-party mechanism.

On Wednesday morning, the VDC secretaries, along with members of political parties at the VDC level, arrived at the site with trucks to load them with tarpaulins and sacks of rice.

Dipendra Shrestha, a local of Dubachaur VDC who represented CPN-UML, said that the material will be evenly distributed among the victims in nine wards. “A representative from a ward each will come and collect the aid,” said Shrestha.

Earlier on May 2, SEBS distributed 1,000 tarpaulin sheets and 1,000 sacks of rice (30 kg per pack) to seven VDCs in Sindhupalchok constituency number 1. By the end of the month, the organisation hopes to reach 30,000 affected households in the district.

According to the census 2011, Sindhupalchok has more than 66,000 households, with more than 287,000 people in total. With almost all the households affected, the district will need at least a tarpaulin sheet for every household.