New media to change the way we respond to humanitarian crisis: 2 years after Nepal´s earthquake.

2 years after Nepal’s devastating earthquake, donations and lasting support in the region are still critical.  To raise awareness, the UN SDG Action Campaign, UNDP and Here Be Dragons release The Ground Beneath Her, a virtual reality film to raise awareness for the need of building resilience and long term support. 

Today Tuesday 25th is the 2nd anniversary of the Nepal Earthquake. Nearly two years later, tens of thousands of people — mostly women and children — still live in makeshift shelters, lack food and clean drinking water, and struggle to earn a living.

To support thousands of people to rebuild their lives in Nepal, the UN SDG Action Campaign, UNDP and Here Be Dragons release the Virtual Reality Film Ground Beneath Her, which showcases the struggle of 14-year-old Sabita as she balances an arduous routine of school and housework, while trying to keep dreams for her future alive. The release of the film, a collaboration between the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the UN SDG Action Campaign, production studio Here Be Dragons seeks to raise awareness for the need for lasting support for the most vulnerable regions as part of a UNDP fundraising campaign to help rebuild lives in Nepal like Sabita’s.  

 

 

 

Need for long term support and building resilience

Across Nepal the earthquake damaged or destroyed more than half a million homes and buildings, claiming nearly 9,000 lives, and leaving about 22,000 injured. The devastation was so severe that experts believe it may take a decade for Nepal to recover. For the millions left behind and left vulnerable by the quake, life will never be the same. More than 3 million people were displaced, many of whom still live in makeshift homes or camp-like shelters. Of the more than 625,000 households waiting for government aid, only 3,500 have been able to reconstruct their homes. Thousands of children study in damaged classrooms that lie open to the elements. They wrestle daily with a lack of food, clean water and electricity.  Despite the generous outpouring of support by the international community more resources are still needed to help affected communities rebuild better than before.  UNDP´s fundraising campaign seek supports to vital post-earthquake development initiatives that include: rebuilding community infrastructure and reestablishing public services such as access to water, irrigation and markets.

 

 

Sabita’s Story

Ground Beneath Her and other UN SDG Action Campaign Virtual Reality experiences like it were designed to support the  Campaign’s efforts to draw attention to some of the world’s greatest challenges, allowing people living through them to tell their stories in their own words and giving them a protagonism in how we conceive of the human toll of natural disasters.

In Ground Beneath Her, viewers gain a better understanding of the long-term emotional and physical scars that mark people, after events like the Nepal earthquake. The film provides a window into the hardships that hundreds of thousands of people in the country still face, whose homes were damaged or destroyed in an instant, and whose lives were changed forever.

Take action:

Learn more about UNVR or host a UNVR screening: www.unvr.org
Donate now: help build Nepal
Share this post #SDGs #UNVR