ADB approves $15 mn grant for quake-hit Nepal

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a $15 million grant to rebuild schools, provide micro-loans to help restore livelihoods, and to boost disasters awareness in quake-ravaged Nepal, said a statement issued on Friday.

The grant will be effective in the 14 worst hit districts devastated by the April 25 earthquake in Nepal that killed nearly 9,000 people, Xinhua news agency reported.

"Destroyed homes, farmland, and business and lost livestock and harvests will push at least 700,000 additional Nepalese below the poverty line, many of them in the hard-hit rural mountain areas where poverty was already high," said Mayumi Ozaki, financial

sector specialist with ADB's South Asia Department.

"We must help families get back on their feet as soon as possible so they can rebuild their lives," he said.

On top of the $15 million grant, the Nepal government will provide additional $1.3 million and the Small Farmers Development Bank, a Nepali umbrella micro-finance bank, will provide $1.5 million.

Around $8.1 million of the overall funding will be used to rebuild at least 14 model disaster-resilient schools, and seven million will be mobilised to provide micro-credit to at least 12,500 households in the affected districts.

Further $1.9 million will finance training to help people better understand how to prepare and cope with disasters.

The 7.8-magnitude earthquake affected at least 2.3 million households and 5.6 million workers in Nepal.