KATHMANDU, Oct 12: Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal is scheduled to visit the far western region of the country on Tuesday to inspect the damage caused by landslides and floods triggered by incessant rainfall last week.
Nepal will start his tour from Achham, the district where landslides claimed 18 lives. He will also visit five other districts. A few days ago, Home Minister Bhim Rawal had also made a round of the region.
Nepal made up his mind to visit the rain-ravaged region after a briefing from the officials of the home ministry on Sunday.
The government has announced an immediate relief package worth Rs 150 million, which according to the home ministry, is yet to be channeled through the finance ministry. A hosts of reports coming from the affected districts have reported that the relief has been scanty and, in most of the areas, almost nil.
During the briefing to the prime minister, the home ministry officials stated the lack of momentum in relief campaign. The officials did not have anything to tell the PM about the relief efforts except a few ´locally initiated actions´ and ´local distribution of food and other relief´.
According to the ministry, over 65 persons were killed, over 2,000 families displaced and nearly 18,000 families affected by landslides and floods over a week. Kailali, where 45 houses collapsed at a single location, seems to have suffered the largest volume of physical damage.
While the extensive damage caused by landslides and floods in the region is being explained as a Climate Change Induced Disaster (CCID), the government was little prepared to tackle the situation. The government passed the ´National Strategy for Disaster Risk Management´ only on Sunday.
Senior officials at the ministry said the government was yet to formulate the modalities to execute the national policies on disaster risk management. This state of affairs will affect handling of future crises which are quite unpredictable, given the symptoms of CCID already experienced.
While Nepal is undergoing this hazard, a high-profile event is taking place in the capital on Thursday to mark International Day for Disaster Reduction. On the occasion, according to a senior official, a massive grant worth Rs 11 billion to tackle disasters in Nepal will be announced by United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR). Prime Minister Nepal is scheduled to attend the function with a keynote address.
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