WFP distributes food to flood-affected in Nepal

The UN has started food distribution to 180,000 people affected by the recent floods and rain-related calamities in Nepal, World Food Programme said today.
At least 150 people were killed mostly in southern Nepal districts due to the flood and landslide following incessant rains.
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) said in a statement that, "Within 48 hours after the floods, Nepal Food Security Monitoring System (NEKSAP) supported by World Food Programme (WFP), issued a first assessment of the damage, playing a vital role in determining the extent of food insecurity in flood-affected areas".
"The tragedy has affected 1.7 million people, with nearly 4,61,000 of them displaced from their homes and in desperate need of assistance, WFP Nepal said.

"The distributions are going on as the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology (DHM) warns of more floods in the days ahead. People in impacted areas are currently food insecure, and 300,000 people have very little access to food and are urgently in need of food assistance," WPF statement said.
"Many people whose homes have been washed away were extremely poor already, living in rudimentary shelters and struggling to make ends meet. Families that have lost food stocks have nothing to fall back on," said Pippa Bradford, WFP Representative and Country Director.

"WFP is working around the clock to provide food to the poorest to ensure that they have enough to eat," she said.

According to the Ministry of Home Affairs over 80 per cent of land in the Terai, the southern plains of Nepal has been inundated.
"To prevent malnutrition, WFP, along with the Government of Nepal and its partners, will be providing 200 MT of fortified food to 19,500 pregnant women and nursing mothers and about 27,700 children aged between 6 to 23 months, across 13 flood affected districts of the Terai," the statement said.
Meanwhile, Japan has also provided emergency relief materials worth Nepalese Rs 23.4 million as a support to the victims of the flood and landslides.
Ambassador of Japan to Nepal Masashi Ogawa handed over the relief materials to Home Minister Janardan Sharma at the Tribhuvan International Airport here.

The first shipment of emergency relief supplies include 3,000 blankets, 100 plastic sheets, 2,000 sleeping pads, 100 tents and 10 watertanks.