Nepal was hit by two powerful earthquakes in 2015. Siddharta Khadka was expecting her second child when the earthquake hit Singati, her home town. The town hospital was damaged and the personnel left the place. This meant that the town residents were left without medical care.

The Red Cross organizations of Finland, France and Germany set up a health clinic in a former maize field. The clinic provided basic health services and it also had a delivery room. At the end of July, two weeks after the expected date of delivery, Siddharta gave birth to a healthy girl at the clinic.
“If the clinic had not been there, I would have given birth to the child at home or I should have gone to Charikot, which is at least two hours away,” Siddharta explains.

More than three million Nepalese received help from the International Red Cross after the earthquake. About 2,5 million people received food, more than half a million a temporary home and 250 000 people received clean water. Finland supports the work of the Finnish Red Cross through development cooperation funding and as humanitarian assistance.

Photo: Emil Helotie/Finnish Red Cross, graphics: Juho Hiilivirta