Kathmandu, August 22:

Home Ministry is contemplating to invite support from the donors working in areas of disaster management, mitigation and reduction for recovery and rehabilitation of displaced families and flood-affected areas in Sunsari.

The ministry’s plan to call a meeting of donors today was put off till next week due to the government formation process, senior Home ministry officials said.

According to preliminary estimates, some 7,000 families have been evacuated to makeshift camps set up in educational institutions and Bhantabari VDC in Sunsari.

In addition, there are some 22,000 people awaiting non-food relief items on the western part of Koshi barrage, said Thir Bahadur GC, under-secretary at the Home Ministry.

Donor agencies, I/NGOs are working on rescue and relief works in these areas and donations are also pouring in from various areas, he said. The ministry has adequate fund and food to provide to displaced families for at least 15 days, he said.

Meanwhile, the ministry officials held a meeting with officials of the Ministry of Finance today to devise recovery programmes, including reconstruction of schools, roads, irrigation system and repairing of damaged electricity lines and drinking water mains.

“Once the rescue and relief works are over, the focus should be on restoring normalcy,” GC said. “For the rehabilitation of displaced families, we need support from various sectors.”

The field study to assess the damage has not been started as the four VDCs are immersed in water. However, Sunsari District Administration Office has been ordered to find out whether systems are in place for distributing relief to the victims get relief and monitor the distribution of relief fund.