European Commission donates €500,000 for flood victims in Nepal

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) on Friday welcomed a €500,000 donation from the European Commission's Humanitarian Aid department (ECHO) to its emergency operations to feed flood-affected people in Nepal.

"ECHO has been one of the largest donors to WFP's emergency operations in Nepal, giving €3 million over the last two years. By supporting WFP's emergency operations, ECHO has provided aid to more than 150,000 people struggling to secure enough food after being hit by natural disasters in Nepal ," said Richard Ragan, WFP Country Director in Nepal, in a release.

At the cost of nearly €3.3 million, WFP aims to provide food aid to over 266,000 people who have been impacted by floods in Nepal. As a part of this effort, the donation from ECHO will provide food aid to 40,000 people, the release added.

Monsoon floods have destroyed or damaged over 70,000 households and have affected 50 out of 75 districts in Nepal. Continued rains over the last month have challenged relief efforts, in some cases re-flooding areas already damaged from the earlier onslaught of rains.

WFP launched its emergency food aid operations in response to a request from the Government of Nepal to feed 60,000 people displaced by flooding. WFP expanded its operations to include 266,000 people after subsequent assessments placed the number of flood-affected people to more than 470,000. nepalnews.com ag Sep 14 07