| Summary/Abstract |
Two major earthquakes hit Nepal in April and May 2015 causing widespread devastation. Many NGOs, including CARE Nepal, International Nepal Fellowship and Richa Bajimaya Memorial Foundation, responded to the crisis in diverse ways. In the relief phase, the three NGOs faced many challenges as a result of inadequate planning for a large‐scale disaster, including access to information, coordination and inaccessibility. NGOs were able to partly overcome these problems through their ability to draw on social capital, networks and trust, values typical of Nepalese society, which is largely structured by informal social relations. Bonding and bridging social capital, and necessary linking social capital at a different scale, all posed certain problems for equity and efficiency. Although using social networks enabled a more rapid response, this could not easily combat inaccessibility and emphasised uneven development.
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