During winter, more than 300,000 earthquake survivors left their homes for the relative warmth and safety of displacement camps at lower elevations. With the arrival of spring, those people returned to their villages en masse to begin repairing their homes and preparing fields for planting. In light of this large-scale migration, CARE revived its shelter distribution activities in order make sure these returnees had a safe, sturdy living environment during the reconstruction process. The need for improved infrastructure, such as roads, culverts, bridges, community centers and schools was immediate, so CARE provided people with cash-for-work opportunities and other income-generation activities that would allow them to earn incomes while improving their communities. For children, CARE began the immediate construction of safe, sturdy temporary schools to help kids return to a sense of normalcy. We also helped villages repair life-sustaining water supply systems and establish community-based health clinics. In total, these important recovery activities helped more than 175,000 people move forward with rebuilding their lives.

Some of the projects included: