Around the world, there are more than 50,000 businesses providing roofing, siding, and sheet metal contracting work, and many of them are chipping in to help victims of the recent earthquake in Nepal.
The 7.8 magnitude earthquake shook Nepal in April, killing about 9,000 people and injuring tens of thousands more. Countless Nepalese families have been left without homes. Now, roofing businesses around the world are literally helping put roofs back over these families’ heads this summer.
In India, the public Steel Authority of India Limited, or SAIL, has volunteered to give more than 50 tons of galvanized corrugated steel sheets to help with the reconstruction of the country. The metal sheeting will be used to build temporary shelters and homes, and to replace damaged livestock shelters ruined by the earthquake.
The Indian Embassy in Nepal said, “These are priority goods for the earthquake-affected areas in Nepal, especially in view of the ongoing monsoon season. The GC sheets would be used for providing temporary shelter to a large number of affected families in Nepal.”
And in Canada, volunteers and builders have come together to donate materials to the reconstruction effort. Canadian resident and builder Kevin Edgecombe recently returned from Nepal, where he and a group helped rebuild homes and schools with $88,000 raised from their Canadian neighbors.
“The areas we visited have poverty that I never experienced before,” Edgecombe said. “We purchased the metal roofing products for about 109 homes. In addition to that, another 10 homes or so we bought products where people desperately needed a roof over their head.”
The developing mountain nation of Nepal already struggled with poverty before the April 25 earthquake, and many citizens lost everything they owned in the disaster. Still, many residents are just happy to have escaped with their lives.
Just like the Haiti earthquake, volunteer groups and citizens all over the world have worked together to donate money and supplies to support cleanup efforts.
