The Nepal earthquake of April 25, 2015 created the greatest destruction in 14 districts, of which #quakeHELPDESK is working in 10 (Bhaktapur, Dhading, Dolakha,
Gorkha, Kathmandu, Kavrepalanchowk, Lalitpur, Nuwakot, Rasuwa, and Sindhupalchowk).
In these 10 districts, #quakeHELPDESK volunteers will take the lead in conducting monthly rapid assessment surveys to learn more about citizens’ issues and needs. In the 4 districts where we do not have a presence (Makwanpur, Okhaldhunga, Ramechhap, and Sindhuli), we will partner with the Nepali Scouts as enumerators in order to ensure the voices of these people are heard.
Our goal with this project is to gather the perceptions of the most affected populations in Nepal. Within each district, some VDCs were hit harder than others. Our volunteers work in some of those communities in greatest need, as determined by initial reports of mortality and destruction, as well as consultative meetings with district-level government officials, police authorities, and civil society organizations. Through our partnership with the scouts, we will also be able to target many of the hardest-hit areas of the remaining 4 districts. We also hope to mobilize scouts to reach the challenging mountainous areas where our volunteers are not yet present.
Although we have targeted VDCs in order to reach citizens in need, below the VDC level, we will be drawing a random sample of the population for our survey. First, we will organize the VDCs where we work into clusters based on geographic location, with 4 or 5 clusters per district. From each of these clusters, we will randomly select three wards in which to survey. Because the selection is random, these wards may be grouped together in one VDC, or spread across multiple. We will use Excel to generate this random selection.
Within each of the selected wards, our volunteers will employ a random sampling methodology in selecting households. Starting at a common gathering point (primary school, water source, meeting area, etc.), the volunteer will spin a pen or stick on the ground to select a direction. Following the path of the stick, the volunteer will visit the first household in the direction the pen is pointing. Upon finishing this interview, the volunteer will visit the next house to the right, as determined while standing facing away from the doorway of the first house. This process will continue until the volunteer reaches a small, set number of households (around 7 per ward), interviewing every household in this path.
Where possible, volunteers will begin this process from a common point within a marginalized community in order to ensure those populations are represented. This method will be more difficult in some areas than others – particularly in mountainous regions – and so there may be liberal guidelines in terms of following one path.
Our survey is aiming to gather representative results on a national basis. As such, we will only be surveying around 100 citizens per district, for an aggregate sample size of
1,400 people. We will make clear in our reporting that results at a district level are only

indicative, but not representative due to the small size of the sub-sample.
#quakeHELPDESK has 5-7 volunteers working in each district. The number of wards each volunteer will visit will be based on the random selection, as each volunteer is assigned to specific VDCs. On average, each volunteer will visit 3 wards, conducting 6-7 surveys per ward, for a total of 20 surveys. In this way, we will gather around 100 surveys per district across our volunteer team. As we build our partnership with the scouts, we can expand our coverage and build upon our district-level samples.
In addition to our survey of citizens, we plan to conduct monthly surveys of frontline workers in order to gather information on their perceptions of the response.
These will be conducted via phone, with #quakeHELPDESK volunteers from the
Kathmandu Valley serving as enumerators. Our specific methodology on sampling is forthcoming, as we are currently in the process of compiling a list of names and numbers.
In general, we hope to pull a sample of around 300 frontline workers, spread across the 14 districts.