Nepal asks UN fund for urgent aid after disaster — Kathmandu Post
Nepal has submitted an emergency appeal to the UN Loss and Damage Fund after the disaster in Rasuwa, which claimed 1,455 lives on August 26. Nearly 7,000 people were injured, while the whereabouts of another 5,285 people remain unknown. The disaster destroyed infrastructure, hydropower plants and settlements, while the country’s recovery and reconstruction needs are estimated at $4.7 billion, Kathmandu Post reports.
Request to the UN fund
Nepal is requesting an exceptionally rapid response from the Loss and Damage Fund, established to assist countries facing irreversible effects of climate change. Maheshwar Dhakal, Nepal’s representative on the fund’s board, said the country had not requested a specific amount. According to him, the $20 million mentioned by some media outlets is the budget cap for the first funding round, not the amount of Nepal’s application.
The fund, established in 2022, has not yet made payments to any country, although it provides for a rapid-response mechanism. In the first round, 119 developing countries submitted requests totaling $2.8 billion, while the fund had only $342 million — about 12% of the stated need.
Assistance for those affected
Forty-nine days after the disaster, affected families said they had not received financial assistance from the government. At the same time, Nepal’s prime minister’s disaster relief fund collected more than 17.75 billion Nepalese rupees, or $29.75 million.
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Truong Huyen-Chi (Shachi), director of the Asian Coordination Office of the Asian Mountain Academic Alliance, noted that funds can arrive most quickly through the national budget and domestic relief funds. According to her, payments to widows should be made within several weeks, children should remain in school, and assistance should reach people regardless of where they have been resettled.
Recovery financed by loans
Nepal largely finances climate projects with loans. According to an analysis by Himal Khabar, over the past decade the country attracted more than six dollars in loans for every dollar in grants for climate projects through the state budget. Twenty-eight days after the disaster, the World Bank offered Nepal an additional $170 million loan.
Ahead of COP31 in Turkey, Nepal seeks to advocate for accessible and predictable loss-and-damage financing that would not increase the country’s debt, as well as mechanisms capable of responding promptly to natural disasters.
