Quake victims will have temporary shelter: MoHA

Kathmandu, May 3, 2015:

All of the victims of the catastrophic earthquake that rocked the nation on April 25 will have temporary shelter within a couple of days, said Ministry of Home Affairs (MoFA).

More than 155,200 pieces of tents, small and large, have been distributed to the quake-hit families till Sunday evening, a dramatic increase from the day before as only 47,801 tents had been distributed till then.

In an interaction with the journalists on Sunday evening, Laxmi Prasad Dhakal, spokesperson at MoHA said, "Along with that, 100,000 pieces of tents will arrive from India tomorrow. As our missions abroad are also putting their efforts to collect tarpaulin sheets, the quake-victims will get tents within a couple of days."

According to the government and United Nations around 8 millions of people are affected by the calamity and more than 400,000 families urgently need temporary shelter.

Even after 200 hours, people in the far-flung village are yet to receive relief materials, specially tents, foods and water.

More than 19,400 pieces of the tents distributed were contributed by the Red Cross, 76,788 distributed by the Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development, 26,003 by Ministry of Urban Development and 11,000 from the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) while China sent 8,650 pieces of tents, Pakistan 2,250 pieces and India assisted 1,160 pieces of tents.

Altogether 12 countries sent 9,867 pieces of small and 3948 pieces of large tents while Pakistan sent the biggest number of large tents.

The government has disbursed 1.35 billion rupees to the quake affected districts while 9,692 quintal of rice, 310 quintal of sugar, 383 quintal of salt, 96,672 carton of noodles and 3,249 quintal of beaten rice were given to the victims. The local bodies have so far distribued74,848 quintal of food grains to the victims.

Rescued alive after nine days

Fanchu Ghale,105-years old, was rescued alive from the debris of his own home in Nuwakot nine days after the earthquake hit his home.

Likewise, the Armed Police Force (APF) rescue squad rescued Gyan Kumari Khatri, Kanchan Khatri and Dhan Kumari Khatri of Syaule – 8 of Sindhupalchowk, alive.

According to the MoHA, 65,016 Nepal Army, 41,776 Nepal Police and 24,775 APF personnel were deployed for the rescue and relief operations in the quake-hit districts while 4,050 experts and other individuals from 34 countries were involved in rescue and relief operations.

Apart from that, 129 sniffing dogs have also been used in the rescue operations.

More than 700 doctors and health personnel from various countries provided health care services while some of them established full-equipped field hospitals in different locations in quake-affected areas, said Dhakal.

The death toll from the quake reached 7,250 till Sunday evening. Of them, 7,124 dead bodies were handed over to their relatives.  Altogether 14,267 people were injured in the disaster. Around 200,552 houses were destroyed while 186,285 houses and government buildings were damaged partially.