World Bank unlocks $170 million in emergency financing for Nepal flood response
The World Bank has made up to $170 million in emergency financing available to Nepal for the immediate response to the August glacier-collapse floods that killed around 1,400 people.
The World Bank said on Wednesday it has made available up to $170 million in emergency financing to support the Nepal government’s immediate response to the floods caused by the catastrophic glacier collapse in late August that killed around 1,400 people, Reuters reported.
“We have made available up to $170 million in emergency financing to support the Government’s immediate response and begin restoring critical infrastructure and services,” the World Bank said in a statement.
The disaster began when the lower part of a glacier in the Himalayas collapsed and crashed onto the valley floor, sending an avalanche of ice and rock down the Lhende Khola river along the mountainous Nepal/Tibet border. The US Geological Survey later said the tremor initially reported as an earthquake was in fact seismic energy generated by the collapse itself, followed by the debris flow, Reuters reported on 26 August.
The mudslide slammed into Gyirong port in Tibet and into Nepal, creating high-speed flash floods that washed away roads and power projects and inundated villages. The same report said around 5,000 people were evacuated in the Indian state of Bihar, downstream from Nepal, after flood alerts were issued.
The emergency financing is aimed at the immediate response effort, with restoring critical infrastructure and services a priority as the country recovers from the floods.
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