Kathmandu, July 23

The government has amended the Disaster Victims Rescue and Relief Standards, 2007, for providing assistance and relief to disaster victims.

The amendment was approved by the Council of Ministers yesterday.

As per the amendment, the concerned chief district officer shall put minimum 25 skilled human resources on standby to be mobilised for search and rescue of victims at anytime. Search and rescue materials will be pre-positioned under the District Disaster Management Committee, in addition to management of minimum 25 human resources to be mobilised for relief operation.

“If one person of a family is killed in a disaster event, a relief of Rs 200,000 will be provided. In case other persons also die, additional relief of Rs 100,000 will be provided for each person. Relief will be distributed through one-window policy. However, no relief will be provided in the case of death of all members of the same family,” said the Ministry of Home Affairs.

If a disaster destroys house, rented house/room and housing and also results in the loss or damage of food crops, land, shop or business, a family of up to five members and a family of more than five members shall be provided with Rs 15,000 and Rs 20,000 as subsistence.

The amount should be provided on the spot as far as possible.

“If foodstuffs and the particular house in which a family is living are fully destroyed or even if it is not fully destroyed but there is need to relocate the family to a safer place and build a new house to avoid potential risk, maximum Rs 100,000 per family shall be provided through a decision of the District Disaster Management Committee. Such relief shall be applicable, only in case the family concerned does not have another house to live in,” the amendment read.

However, the Ministry of Urban Development shall make arrangement for housing construction for families rendered homeless due to floods, landslides, inundation, erosion etc during the monsoon season, in accordance with procedures adopted for providing assistance to victims of the 2015 earthquakes.

A version of this article appears in e-paper on July 24, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.