European Commission to finance disaster risk reduction in Nepal
European Commission grants EUR 3.275 million (NPR approx 328 million) to develop preparedness for natural disasters in different parts of Nepal
The Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection Department of the European Commission (ECHO) is providing EUR 3.275 million (NPR approx 328 million) for disaster risk reduction in different parts of Nepal, under its sixth 6th Disaster Preparedness (DIPECHO) action plan for South Asia.
These DIPECHO projects will focus on capacity building for vulnerable communities to help them prepare against natural disasters. The communities will be supported to develop Community based Early Warning Systems, form Search and Rescue and First aid teams and construct small scale mitigation measures like evacuation routes, shelters with water and sanitation facilities and bio-dikes to protect river banks from erosion.. These actions are carried out jointly by the communities and project staff, where communities initiate the project after assessing their vulnerability and developing a contingency plan.
Besides the above community projects, three hospitals and two rehabilitation centres in the Kathmandu valley will be supported to increase their readiness in the event of a major earthquake.
The projects will be implemented by five leading partners in Nepal covering 9 Districts in 5 development regions, including various municipalities in the Kathmandu valley. The projects will have around 2 million direct beneficiaries.
Practical Action, Save the Children, Care, World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) have been selected as the implementing partners. The projects will be implemented over a period of up to 18 months.
Practical Action is partnering with Mercy Corps to implement the project "Strengthening capacity for communities for disaster risk reduction through early warning in Nepal" in Banke, Bardiya, Kailali, Kanchanpur and Tanahu districts.
Save the Children is implementing the project "Community preparedness for disaster risk reduction in Siraha and Bardiya districts in Nepal while the "Samrakshan-building community resilience to disaster in far western Nepal" is being executed by Care.
Similarly, WHO has built a consortium comprised of Handicap International, Merlin and Oxfam that will implement the project "Enhancing emergency health and rehabilitation response readiness capacity of health system in the event of a high intensity earthquake in the Kathmandu valley".
Finally, UNDP, together with the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and Oxfam, will launch a project on "Mainstreaming disaster risk reduction and enhancing response capacity from local to national level in Nepal" covering all the development regions of Nepal.
ECHO Background
The European Union’s mandate to the European Commission Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection Department (ECHO) is to provide emergency assistance and relief to the victims of natural disasters or armed conflict outside the European Union. The aid is intended to help directly those in distress, irrespective of race, religion or political convictions.
ECHO has been actively involved in humanitarian works in disaster hit areas around the world through its 44 country offices and 200 national as well as 100 expatriate technical experts. It has been at the forefront of the task of preventing and minimising disasters.
The European Commission is one of the biggest sources of humanitarian aid in the world. In 2010, it provided almost 1.1 billion Euros in humanitarian assistance. The EU(European Commission and Member States) is already the biggest humanitarian aid donor, currently providing 45 % of official global humanitarian assistance helping several million people who depend on the EU for the most basic humanitarian aid, often for survival.
In addition, ECHO currently is financing food assistance to Bhutanese Refugees, water and sanitation, and health projects to the most vulnerable communities in Nepal. These projects are being implemented through international and national NGOs and UN organisations.
During the last five years, the European Commission has provided EUR 39.6 million for humanitarian assistance to Nepal.