KATHMANDU: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) today approved a new USD 15 million grant to rebuild schools, provide microloans to help restore livelihoods and to boost awareness of disasters in the 14 districts most severely affected by the recent earthquakes in Nepal.

The grant is provided by the Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction, a fund set up by the Japanese government in 2000 to support poverty reduction and social development in ADB projects. The ADB will manage the grant.

“Destroyed homes, farmlands and businesses and lost livestock and harvests will push at least 700,000 additional Nepalis below the poverty line, many of them in the hard-hit rural central hill and mountain areas where poverty was already high,” said Mayumi Ozaki, Financial Sector Specialist with the ADB’s South Asia Department. “We must help families get back on their feet as soon as possible so they can rebuild their lives.”

On top of the USD 15 million grant, the Nepal government will provide an additional USD 1.3 million and the Small Farmers Development Bank, a Nepali umbrella microfinance bank, will provide USD 1.5 million, according to a press release issued today by the Manila-based ADB headquarters.

The magnitude-7.6 earthquake of April 25, followed by a major aftershock on May 12, affected the livelihoods of an estimated 2.3 million households and 5.6 million workers across 31 districts. This resulted in personal income losses of around USD 170 million in the previous fiscal year.