In 1964, Lukla airport was built by Sir Edmund Hillary of Himalayan Trust. The objective of the airport at that time was to ease the transportation of supplies for the Himalayan Trust schools and hospital projects. In those days, delivery of supplies required more than three weeks of the hard trek by porters from Kathmandu. But today, this airport serves as one of the busiest airports in the mountain regions of Nepal. The airport can operate more than 40 flights of STOL plane and more than 20 flights of helicopter thereby bringing more than 45,000 tourists per year in the Khumbu region. As a result, the economy and livelihood of the area have been changed considerably.

The government of Nepal renamed Lukla airport as “Tenzing-Hillary airport” in memory of these two Everest heroic figures in 2008.

Himalayan Trust also supports the emergency needs of the local people. Whenever bridges and foot trails are washed away by monsoon floods and landslides disturbing the lives of the local people, Himalayan Trust joins hands with the local community for the restoration and repairing of such bridges and trails. The government of Nepal declared to name the trail beyond Lukla to Everest Base Camp as “Tenzing- Hillary route to honor them.

EMERGENCY WORK UNDERTAKEN BY THE HIMALAYAN TRUST NEPAL

In response to the earthquake disaster in the Solukhumbu district, Himalayan Trust Nepal held an emergency meeting on April 29th to evaluate the situation of Solukhumbu, to identify immediate and long-term priorities. Himalayan Trust Nepal coordinated with partner organizations, District Disaster Management Committee (DDMC), District Education Office (DEO), Chief District Officer (CDO), donor agencies and local school management committees to respond to the earthquake disaster from frequent aftershocks.
On 10th May another HTN meeting was held as a follow up on the discussions of the previous meeting. The desired outcome of the discussion was to appoint a Project Manager and engineers on fixed term contract; discuss the current situation with DDMC, CDO, and DEO. HTN is to coordinate reconstruction from Salleri up to the Khumbu region. 
For immediate relief, the total of 992 tarpaulins was delivered to the earthquake victims in Solukhumbu. In the first week of June, a number of sleeping bags and tents were also sent to the most affected area of Solukhumbu district. The HTN also coordinated with other local stakeholders for distribution of relief materials.

A project manager, Dr. Mingma Norbu Sherpa, civil engineers Mr. Rup Bahadur Rawal and Mr. Sunil Shrestha and Himalayan Trust Nepal Training Coordinator Mr. Mahendra Bahadur Kathet, Mr. Ishworman Rai and HT district coordinator Nava Bhujel assessed the earthquake disaster particularly in schools walking for many days to reach valleys of Solukhumbu district. The team assessed the damages, prepared plans for building Temporary Learning Centers (TLC) and prepared structural designs for future reconstruction of classrooms project.

As per the team’s assessment, most houses were destroyed in Thame and Thameteng. All people were engaged in rebuilding and repairing of their homes targeting to complete before the start of monsoon season. Thame, Phortse, Pangboche, and Monju witnessed acute shortages of skilled laborers thereby causing delays in the repairing of schools. Because of this, schools operated classes in tents for a number of weeks. The demand for skilled, semi-skilled and general workers was huge not only in Solukhumbu but throughout Nepal.

EMERGENCY RELIEF MATERIALS

The immediate needs were tarpaulins and tents for schools and the residents of Solukhumbu. The meeting of the Himalayan Trust decided to send the relief materials as soon as possible. Tents and tarpaulins were in high demand and ran out of stock in Kathmandu. The HTN managed to get few hundred tarpaulins. Over 200 tarpaulins were supplied to the District Disaster Management Committee in Solu; 630 tarpaulins were sent to Kunde Khumjung Relief Group for distribution in three VDC of Chaurikharka, Namche, and Khumjung; 150 tarpaulins from Himalayan Trust Nepal and 150 tarpaulins from Himalayan Disaster Relief Volunteer Group through Jemima Diki Sherpa were sent to Junbesi to be distributed by Himalayan Yeti Club of Junbesi in and around the area of Junbesi, Beni, Bakanje and Thuptencholing. Relief materials received from Himalayan Trust (NZMFAT) were distributed to Goli Gompa, Kunde Hospital, Khumjung School, Junbesi, Garma handicapped school, Sotang School, the resident of Waku, the resident of Kerung and Lukla Gompa monks. The materials were distributed by the representative of REED Nepal and Himalayan Trust Nepal through District Disaster Management Committee in Solu.

OUTPUTS

1. 1. Thirty-two schools were assessed, 12 schools got TLC and 10 schools received support to repair damaged blocks.
   2. A coordination meeting was conducted in DEO and contract with DEO was signed for building TLC, repair damaged blocks and conduct the structural survey.
   3. Could make a field visit with the District Education Officer Mr. Bir Bahadur Khadka to Lukla Lower Secondary and Mahendra Jyoti Higher Secondary Schools.
   4. Also held a coordination meeting of Surke Primary and Janasewa Lower Secondary Schools at Lukla for the immediate management and future rebuilding planning of the schools.

Building and maintenance of Temporary Learning Class (TLC/Toilets)

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