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.
More than 7,800 people were killed in the April 25 earthquake.
The U.N. estimates that as many as eight million people have been affected by the quake.
"We cannot run our responses on credit cards," said Paul Dillon, a project manager at the International Organization for Migration. "Those who have offered help need to make good on their pledges."
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.
More than 7,800 people were killed in the April 25 earthquake.
The U.N. estimates that as many as eight million people have been affected by the quake.
"We cannot run our responses on credit cards," said Paul Dillon, a project manager at the International Organization for Migration. "Those who have offered help need to make good on their pledges."
voanews.com
8/5/15
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Nepal: UN agency stresses urgent funding needs to get food to earthquake victims...
ReplyDeleteTwo weeks after a devastating earthquake hit Nepal¸ the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has warned that “severe logistical challenges” are getting in the way of aid reaching hundreds of thousands of survivors in some of the country’s hardest-hit areas.
“We in no way want a lack of resources to force us to limit the assistance we’re providing,” Richard Ragan, who is coordinating WFP’s relief operation, said from Kathmandu.
“The people of Nepal are resilient, but we can’t expect families to be living in the rubble of their homes, with little food, no roof over their head and the monsoons coming,” he said.
After the initial focus in the relief effort on search and rescue, food has become an increasingly urgent need, WFP said. Thus far, the Programme has distributed food for 300,000 people and is bringing in more helicopters and engaging multiple fleets of small trucks to get supplies to hard-hit rural areas. It is also opening a land route from India to take pressure off Kathmandu airport.
But WFP’s emergency operations are only four per cent funded, with much of the food distributions and common services provided to date enabled by internal resources which are reaching their limit.
Funded entirely by voluntary contributions from governments, companies and private individuals, WFP has appealed for $116.5 million to provide food for 1.4 million people over the next three months....un.org
8/5/15