Snowstorm-hit villages in Nepal get relief materials

Relief materials have been sent to villages in central Nepal hit by a snowstorm and located near the epicentre of devastating April 2015 earthquake.
Essential supplies like tents, food, medicine and warm clothes were sent to Barpak and Laprak villages in Gorkha district by land and helicopter, according to press advisor to the Prime Minister, Pramod Dahal.
Most of the families in the affected villages, facing hardship due to severe cold in the region, had received the emergency aid.
There were no reports of any deaths or serious injuries from the weekend storm, he added.
As most of the houses in the area were damaged in the April 25 earthquake and subsequent aftershocks, thousands of people have been living in tents.

Speaking at a programme in the capital, Prime Minister K P Oli said that no one will die due to lack of food in the quake-hit areas.

He said that the government is preparing to distribute cash relief to the quake hit families by next week.
The quake killed nearly 9,000 people and damaged some 8,00,000 houses in 14 districts across Nepal.
During a meeting of security chiefs yesterday, the Prime Minister had instructed them to dispatch emergency materials to the affected people immediately as people there were facing hardship due to severe cold.
Nepalese authorities will begin earthquake reconstruction work this weekend with the National Reconstruction Authority sending hundreds of engineers to villages to take detailed surveys of the damage.

Foreign donors have pledged USD 4.1 billion assistance for the earthquake reconstruction.