UN provided support to over 31,000 Nepal families hit by floods

KATHMANDU, March 28: The United Nations Development Program, with funding from the Chinese government, has provided recovery support to over 31,800 families in Nepal affected by the 2017 floods, the global body said on Tuesday.

The UNDP Nepal had, in January, launched the post-flood recovery project in seven most-affected districts of Terai – Sunsari, Saptari, Sarlahi, Dhanusha, Mahottari, Rautahat and Parsa of Provinces 1 and 2 in the southern part of the country following a USD 4 million grant agreement signed with the government of China. The assistance was provided under the framework of the Chinese South- South Cooperation Assistance Fund, the UNDP — UN’s global development network — said in the statement.

The agency announced the final achievements of the recovery project at a closing ceremony in the capital, in the presence of representatives from the Nepal government, the Chinese Embassy in the country and local governments of the project’s target districts, it said.

In August last year, the Terai region experienced the heaviest rainfall recorded in the past 60 years, resulting in widespread flooding across 35 districts. Around 160 people lost their lives, over 43,000 houses were destroyed, 1,92,000 houses partially damaged and more than 21,000 families displaced in the floods. Over 80 percent of land in the southern plains of Nepal was inundated during the deluge. A post-flood assessment conducted by the Nepal government found that 1.7 million people were hit by the disaster.