On 25 April 2015, a 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck Nepal, destroying buildings and infrastructure across 31 of Nepal’s 70 districts. Approximately 9,000 people lost their lives to the earthquake that day, 22,000 suffered from injuries, and eight million were affected. I arrived in Kathmandu one week after the quake to support the government of Nepal in various response and recovery activities.

Asia and the Pacific are most at risk from natural disasters, according to a report from the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction. More than 90 million people worldwide were affected by natural disasters in 2015. Asia is the world’s most disaster-prone continent, with 152 out of the 346 reported disasters worldwide. This isn’t surprising, given that it is both geologically active and the most populous region on Earth. In the last few decades, earthquakes, tsunamis, and typhoons were among the deadliest natural hazards in the world. In 2015, earthquakes topped the list; the magnitude-7.8 Nepal earthquake in April claimed more than 8,000 lives, causing widespread damage in Gorkha and its surrounding areas. Earlier this year, the earthquake in Taiwan saw more than a hundred casualties, almost all from a shoddily constructed apartment building that collapsed in the quake.