Of the $415 million requested by the UN and its partners last week, just $22.4 million has been provided - about five percent.
"It's a poor response," Orla Fagan, spokeswoman for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, told the Reuters news agency on Thursday.
Fagan attributed the shortage to "donor fatigue", citing more than a dozen other long-running international crises, such as the conflicts in Syria and Iraq, which are also making demands on donor nations.
The 7.8 magnitude earthquake that struck northwest of Nepal's capital Kathmandu on April 25 has killed at least 7,759 people, injured more than 16,000, and destroyed more than 300,000 homes.
Nepal's post-disaster response has been heavily criticised in the 10 days following the earthquake. Many people in rural areas have still not received any government aid. The UN and Western governments have blamed the country's bureaucracy for taxing and stalling the flow of supplies at border crossings....
[Al Jazeera And Reuters]
8/5/15
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Related:
- UN official says donors' response slow to help Nepal...
The international response has been slow to an appeal for emergency funds to help the millions of people hit by last month's earthquake in Nepal, a UN official said Friday.
Jamie McGoldrick, the UN's chief official in Nepal, said the agency had received $22 million so far against an appeal last week for $415 million to support relief efforts for the first three months in the Himalayan nation.
"This needs to be dramatically ramped up," McGoldrick told reporters in the Nepalese capital.......ctvnews.ca
8/5/15
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- UN: Nepal Donations Need to Be 'Ramped Up' ...
The United Nations says it has received only $22 million of the $415 million it says it needs for the emergency response to the 7.8-magnitude Nepal earthquake.
Jamie McGoldrick, the U.N.'s chief official in Nepal, said donations for the humanitarian efforts in the impoverished Himalayan nation following the earthquake need to be "dramatically ramped up."
McGoldrick said relief personnel are now working "so that people have roofs over their heads and their other urgent needs are addressed before the monsoon season starts."
Monsoon rains usually start in June, triggering avalanches and flooding.....voanews.com
8/5/15
Nepal pledges to rebuild schools and roads within two years of quake...
ReplyDeleteNepal's prime minister pledged on Friday to repair public buildings, schools and infrastructure within two years of the 7.8 earthquake that struck the country last month.
"The government will reconstruct damaged public buildings, roads, schools, hospitals, telecom facilities, power houses, and colleges in two years," Prime Minister Sushil Koirala said in an address to parliament.
He also said the government would provide loans of up to US$25,000 (16,166 pounds) at an interest rate of 2 percent for the reconstruction of private homes.
The announcement comes after the country's worst earthquake in more than 80 years, shortly before noon on April 25.
At least 7,903 people were killed, nearly 18,000 injured, and more than 541,000 buildings damaged.
The government said the cost of the first phase of reconstruction would be US$2 billion and it had set aside US$200 million towards that.
For the balance, the government has appealed for donations from foreign countries, aid agencies and Nepali people themselves........Reuters........channelnewsasia.com