Germany pledges 1 million euros for Nepal flood victims

Aug 10, 2007, 8:19 GMT

Kathmandu - The German government Friday pledged 1 million euros (1.37 million dollars) for relief efforts for hundreds of thousands of people affected by flooding and landslides in Nepal.

The German Embassy in Kathmandu said the amount up to 1 million euros would be provided through the World Food Programme (WFP) to help the most vulnerable flood victims spread across the Himalayan nation.

'Providing this emergency humanitarian assistance, Germany is reacting to the international appeal launched by WFP,' the German Embassy said. 'The committed amount is intended for food aid to the flood-affected people for up to three months.'

The World Food Programme earlier this month launched an appeal for 1.5 million US dollars for 60,000 people who require long term food aid after their homes and livelihoods were destroyed by the floods.

The latest government figures say at least 95 people have died and another 330,000 people were affected by floods in almost half of Nepal's 75 districts.

Many people who were forced from their homes have slowly started returning after improvement of the weather.

But local media reports say people in flood affected areas face difficulties in rebuilding their lives and there were dangers of the spread of waterborne diseases.

Nepalese government relief teams are slowly reaching villages cut off by flood waters. But the government says relief teams face difficulties because of destroyed infrastructure and limited resources.