August 18, 2017
As part of relief measures for the recent floods, the Nepal Government on Thursday sought support from donor agencies and social organizations for helping flood victims.
In this regard, the government urged those willing to help to coordinate with the local government, District Disaster Relief Committee(DDRC) and Prime Minister’s Disaster Relief Fund (PMRF).
The government has been distributing relief materials in the flood-hit areas through a joint mechanism without the involvement of local representatives.
An official statement issued by the Home Ministry Spokesperson Ram Krishna Subedi informed that the government is committed to curb irregularities and distribute relief materials in a fair manner.
Prior to this call for donor support, the government had announced a one-door policy to check the relief measures and ensure fair distribution of relief materials.
For this, the Natural Disaster and Rescue Committee (NDRC) led by the Minister for Home Affairs Janardan Sharma has also directed authorities to ensure that cash or any other relief material is distributed under the supervision of government authorities.
Meanwhile, preliminary reports of the government revealed that more than 69,617 livestock, including goats, buffaloes, chickens and pigs, have been killed across the country’s low-belt areas, so far.
Livestock death toll is likely to be more than the government estimates, as the preliminary reports excluded post-disaster livestock situation of various areas, where the rescue and inspection teams have not reached yet.
Apart from those killed, government also expects that thousands of livestock animals suffered injuries or went missing. However, it could not make out the number because of flooded water levels across Tarai districts.
According to the Ministry of Livestock Development (MoLD), the monsoon disaster has destroyed large number of poultry farms, animal sheds and huge volume of animal feed across the flood-affected Tarai districts.
MoLD project livestock-associated losses at billions, however, the exact number is yet to be concluded.
“As the water level has not abated in the Tarai, we are currently focusing on relief, rescue and rehabilitation of livestock,” said MoLD Joint-Secretary Shyam Prasad Poudyal.
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