Govt did not receive the pledged money: MoF

Kathmandu, May 5, 2015: 

The government has made a call on to the International Agencies and International Non-Government Organizations (INGO) to clarify whether the aid they had announced for the earthquake victims will be donated to the government or be spent by them.

It has also requested the countries offering monetary aid to Nepal to mention the way or methods for how the money would be spent.

The government has asked the international agencies for this as the money was not deposited in the Disaster Relief Fund.

Although hundreds of national and international organizations pledged billions of rupees to support the victims of the April 25 quake, the government has not received any except Asian Development Bank (ADB)'s 3 million USD and Bhutan's 1 million USD.

As a result, there was a huge public outcry.

"Common people thought that the government received billions of rupees from international agencies but it didn't spend the money. The blamed the government for corruption of the quake-victim's money," said Baikuntha Aryal, joint-secretary and coordinator of Budget and Program Division at the Ministry of Finance.

The newspapers and electronic media is carrying stories of monetary aid pledged to quake-hit families every day.

And, people blamed the government for indifferent towards the victims.

"However, this is not the case," said Aryal, "The aid announced by various countries will be spent by the bilateral agencies that are functioning in Nepal."

The money pledged by Australia would be mobilized by AusAid while the money that comes from Canada would be spent by Canadian Aid for the quake-victims.

More than 50 countries and multilateral agency, ADB, humanitarian organizations, Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders and multinational corporations have pledged monetary aid, rescue teams, relief materials and logistics while fund raising activities are continued in many countries.

Ministry of Home Affairs, has also requested to all the stakeholders not to distribute the worn out clothes to the quake-victims.

Around a dozen of old clothes sent from India were sent back to India today, said the ministry.

Foreign search and rescue teams begin to return

Foreign search and rescue teams, that arrived here on the government call and actively involved in rescue and relief operations in quake-hit areas, begin to return to their respective countries.

Around 198 members of search and rescue teams from France, Switzerland, Germany, United Kingdom, Canada, Netherland, Poland, Spain, Turkey, United States of America, Pakistan and India has returned home byTuesday, informed Laxmi Prasad Dhakal, spokesperson at Ministry of Home Affairs.

About 4,050 experts from 34 countries were involved in search, rescue and relief operations which also included 129 sniffer dogs.

The meeting of Central Natural Disaster Relief Committee, Sunday took a decision to request foreign search and rescue teams working here to return home.

Death 7611, injured 14536

The death toll in the quake has reached 7,611 by Tuesday evening while 14,536 were injured.

More than 6,000 quake-hit people are receiving treatment at hospitals.

Ten districts that lost the highest number of citizens are Sindhupalchowk, Kathmandu, Nuwakot, Dhading, Rasuwa, Gorkha, Kavrepalanchowk, Bhaktapur, Lalitpur and Dolakha.

The calamity has claimed about 3 thousand lives in Sindhupalchok alone.

The catastrophe ravaged more than 400,000 houses and government buildings across the country.

Around 201,776 houses and government buildings were collapsed in the tremors while more than 200 thousand were partially damaged.

Altogether 328 people are missing in the quake so far while 200 individuals were rescued from Langtang Region till today.

Meanwhile, Nepal Army has rescued 148 individuals, some of them stranded in various locations, from Dhading, Dolakha and Gorkha.