Kathmandu, September 14:

The European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid department (ECHO) has granted Euro 500,000 to the United Nations World Food Programme to be used in feeding victims of flood in Nepal. The World Food Programme today welcomed the aid.

“ECHO has been one of the largest donors to WFP’s emergency operations in Nepal, giving Euro 3 million over the last two years. ECHO has provided aid to more than 150,000 people struggling after natural disasters in Nepal,” a WFP statement quoted Richard Ragan, the WFP Country Representative in Nepal, as saying. At a cost of nearly Euro 3.3 million, WFP aims to provide food aid to over 266,000 people who have been hit by floods in Nepal.

As part of this effort, the donation from ECHO will provide food aid to 40,000 people.

“The European Commission has been monitoring this year’s floods closely in Nepal and also in the rest of South Asia. We are happy to contribute to this project which will, along with three others, alleviate the suffering of thousands and provide for much needed food, shelter, and adequate water and sanitation,” the statement quoted Dominique Feron, the head of the EC’s Humanitarian Aid office in Kathmandu, as saying.

Monsoon floods have hit 70,000 households and have affected 50 districts in the country.

Continued rains over the last month have challenged relief efforts, in some cases reflooding areas already damaged by floods and rains earlier.

The WFP launched its emergency food aid operations in response to a request from the government to feed 60,000 people displaced by flooding.

It expanded its operations to include 266,000 more people after subsequent assessments placed the number of flood-affected people to over 470,000.

Relief distribution ‘biased’

MAHOTTARI: Saying that the distribution of relief materials provided by Caritas Nepal was being done in a biased manner, flood victims staged a demonstration at the District Administration Office (DAO) here on Friday. Relief materials are being given only to supporters of the CPN-UML, a flood victim, Rampreet Thakur, said. The demonstrators demanded an investigation and also padlocked the godown of Caritas Nepal. Those distributing the relief materials, however, said that relief was being distributed in accordance with a list of the victims provided by the DAO. “The victims are needlessly levelling the accusation against us,” a member of the relief distribution team said. — HNS