Nepalese authorities intensify rescue efforts for flood victims

Sep 23, 2008, 10:40 GMT

   Kathmandu - Nepalese authorities on Tuesday intensified their relief and rescue operations in flood-ravaged western Nepal where at least 38 people have died and thousands are homeless.

   The Nepalese Home Minister Bam Dev Gautam said the government had released 15.5 million rupees (210,000 dollars) in emergency aid to provide shelter and food for the displaced.

   The Nepalese government also said nearly 13,000 people were displaced from their homes after heavy monsoon rains triggered landslides and floods across western Nepal.

   Nepalese army helicopters had evacuated more than a thousand people in the past two days from areas inaccessible by roads.

   Hundreds of soldiers and police were mobilized to carry out search and rescue operations.

   Eight districts in western Nepal were affected by the rains which the Nepalese meteorological department described as unusually heavy.

   The worst hit was Kailali district, about 450 kilometres west of the Nepalese capital Kathmandu, where at least 18 people were killed with dozens more missing.

   Local authorities said the rescue operations were being hampered by high water-levels and damage to road links but said the weather had improved and water in some areas was receding.

   The latest flooding in western Nepal came a month after eastern parts of the country was hit by massive floods after the Koshi River breached its banks.

   About 35,000 people were displaced in that flooding and at least 90 people have died in flooding and landslides across the Himalayan nation since June.

   Nepal receives nearly 80 per cent of its total annual rainfall during the four-months-long monsoon season that lasts from June to late September.