New York, NY (BBN)- The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) said on Friday it is mobilizing emergency assistance for up to 170,000 people in western Nepal who have been displaced by the severe flooding that claimed more than 30 lives earlier this month.
Flash floods have affected over 24,000 families in the worst hit districts of Kanchanpur and Kailali, according to a UN press statement.
The WFP will provide a “mixed-commodity basket” of rice, lentils, vegetable oil and salt, as part of this new $2.5 million emergency operation.
On Thursday the UN and its humanitarian partners launched a US$15.5 million appeal to help 70,000 people in eastern Nepal who were displaced after heavy monsoon rains caused a dam to break, breaching the eastern embankment of the Kosi River, one of the largest river basins in Asia, the statement added.
The force of the water led to 80 per cent of the river changing course, and the resulting flooding has impacted an already vulnerable population.
The appeal launched on Thursday is supplementing a $102 million Transition Appeal for Nepal for 2008, which has received less than half of the support needed.
BBN/Si/SS/AD-27September08-4:50 PM (BST)