The April 25, 2015, 7.8-magnitude earthquake affected approximately eight million Nepali across 31 of Nepal’s 75 districts, with 14 districts designated as “severely affected” for the purpose of prioritizing rescue, relief, and recovery operations.  Around 9,000 people lost their lives, and more than 22,000 were injured.  The destruction was widespread, covering residential and government buildings, heritage sites, schools, health posts, rural roads, bridges, water supply systems, agricultural land, trekking routes, and hydropower plants.  The total value of earthquake-related damages and losses is estimated at $8.6 billion, per the Post Disaster Recovery Framework (PDRF) dated May 2016.

In its Country Development Cooperation Strategy (CDCS, 2014-2018) the Mission’s critical assumptions included a major earthquake as a “game changer” that would affect implementation of its strategy, possibly necessitating a revision.  This Annex integrates a Transition Objective into the CDCS, to capture USAID’s earthquake recovery investments (financial, human, and programmatic) that cannot be accommodated within the existing results framework and that will help re-establish a development trajectory in the earthquake zone.

The focus of the Transition Objective will be to 1) rebuild and rehabilitate critical infrastructure, and 2) manage risks before, during, and after natural disasters.  Under this Transition Objective, USAID will support the Government of Nepal (GON) and earthquake-affected communities to plan, manage, and monitor reconstruction activities, while working with regional partners to strengthen disaster risk management institutions, policies, and systems.

By adding a Transition Objective, USAID will be able to clearly articulate an earthquake recovery plan and link it to its overall development strategy for Nepal.  This will allow the Mission to better track how U.S. Government resources are utilized in response to the earthquake and the impact these resources are having.  

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