ChildFund responded to the 2015 earthquake in Nepal. See the impact our work had on the lives of children affected by the earthquake..

On 25 April 2015, a powerful earthquake with a magnitude of 7.8 struck Nepal, with its epicenter 50 miles (80 km) north-west of the capital Kathmandu. A strong aftershock (magnitude 7.3) followed on 12 May, with its epicenter 47 miles north-east of Kathmandu.

Almost 9,000 people were killed, and 22,300 were injured. Of the 2.8 million people who were affected, 1.1 million (40%) were children.

Katsuhiko Takeda became Executive Director of ChildFund Japan in May 2017.

After working in commercial banking, Katsuhiko obtained an M.A. in Politics and International Relations in the United Kingdom.

For more than two decades he has been involved in humanitarian and developmental field work, including with AAR (Association for Aid and Relief, Japan) from 1996 to 2003 as director and in senior positions based in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Balkan region and Japan; World Vision from 2004 to 2006 as project manager based in Sri Lanka, Tanzania and Jordan (for Iraq); CARE International Japan from 2007 to 2016 as program director and national director (CEO).

He served as international board director of the Alliance of CARE International from 2010 to 2016, and sat on the finance and governance committees.

In the immediate aftermath of the two powerful earthquakes that struck Nepal in early 2015, ChildFund responded with emergency relief in the form of food, shelter and child-centered spaces. Over the following two years, ChildFund supported the rehabilitation of communities, rebuilding schools and providing supplies, ensuring safe water and hygiene, and providing livelihoods support to families. Overarching all programs was a commitment to child protection, and preparing for future emergencies.