 |
| Red Cross finalizing Action Plan for reconstruction in quake-hit areas |
The Society has adopted a policy to provide its assistance for the re-constructionand rehabilitation through the optimum utilization of the local resources.
The humanitarian organization earlier has contributed to the search-and-rescue operation during the quake.
According to President of the Nepal Red Cross Society Sanjeev Thapa, the Action Plan will accord importance to the construction of the shelters, providing primary health care and drinking water, sanitation in the quake-hit areas and will underscore the livelihood of the quake survivors.
These tasks will be undertaken at the earliest with the support of the International Red Cross Society, President Thapa added.
The April 25 quake and subsequent aftershocks are estimated to have claimed the lives of some 8,773 persons and completely damaged some 542,630 houses and partially damaged 308,117 houses across the across the country, amounting to financial loss worth Rs 10 billion.
Of the total 42 quake-hit districts in Nepal, the government identified 14 districts as the hardest hit, including the Kathmandu Valley.
At the prorgramme, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mahendra Bahadur Pandey spoke of the need to further the reconstruction and resettlement of the quake-hit persons by utilizing the local resources and skills to the hilt.
Sharing that preparations for the international conference of donor agencies, to be held in Kathmandu on June 25, was being intensified, Minister Pandey said that the government had been keeping the record of the damages for the relief distribution and the resettlement of the displaced people.
Similarly, Jamie McGoldrick, the Resident Coordinator of the United Nations to Nepal, shared that the international communities were providing Nepal various relief materials, including food items. He believed that Nepal will also garner support of the international communities for the reconstruction and the resettlement.
On the occasion, Jagan Chapagin, Director of the Asia Pacific Region of the International Red Cross Society, informed that reconstruction and the resettlement in the quake-hit areas in the country would be furthered in the participatory approach of the local community.
The programme is believed to see deliberations from the experts on the reconstruction and resettlement in the quake-hit areas.
