WFP、西ネパールで緊急食糧援助開始（英文のみ）

WFP STARTS EMERGENCY FOOD DELIVERIES TO WESTERN NEPAL

KATHMANDU - The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has started transporting emergency food assistance to help communities in western Nepal hit by drought in an operation that is eventually expected to reach 225,000 people.

Nepal has had its driest winter since 1960, according to government records, and last year’s monsoon rains were late and erratic - this on top of two poor harvests in a region that is already chronically food insecure.

“Food insecurity is already a fact of life in these districts, and we are very concerned that drought will exacerbate what was already a precarious situation,” said Richard Ragan, WFP County Director in Nepal. “To further complicate things, many of the target areas are located in some of Nepal’s most remote locations and could require very expensive airlift operations. With the rains approaching, the time to act is now if we are to be able to save lives in these areas.”

Assistance will be provided through an accelerated Food-for-Work programme. Families in drought-hit areas will receive a two-month ration of rice and fortified wheat flour as they participate in quick-impact community projects.

The three-month emergency operation is intended to tide families over to the next harvest, and will cover nine districts in the mid-west area of Nepal, along with Bajura district in the far west.

“While there has been much attention on the easing of the recent political crisis in Nepal, these developments have had little impact on people in the drought-affected districts,” said Ragan. “Families are struggling to find enough food to feed their children by selling their household goods and livestock to survive the rainless period.”

Because many of the drought-affected communities are some of Nepal’s most isolated, WFP will launch an appeal to support airlifts into the most inaccessible areas.

In Nepal, WFP is currently providing food to 450,000 children in schools, 17,000 mothers and young children through nutrition and health programmes, and 30,000 households participating in food-for-work programmes that build roads to improve rural access to markets and nearby towns. Working with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), WFP also provides food to 105,000 Bhutanese refugees living in camps in eastern Nepal.

Major donors to WFP’s five-year US$81 million country programme in Nepal include Norway (US$13.8 million), the United States (US$10.1 million), the United Kingdom (US$5.2 million), Canada (US$3 million), the European Commission (US$1.3 million), Germany (US$1 million), Australia (US$700,000), New Zealand (US$100,000) and Denmark (US$30,000). A further US$25.1 million was received in multilateral donations, while US$780,000 has been donated by the private sector.

Donors to this year’s operation to provide food to Bhutanese refugees include the United States (US$1.2 million), the European Commission (US$200,000), Nepal (US$50,000), Japan (US$20,000) and US$3.7 million in multilateral donations.

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For more information please contact (email: firstname.lastname@wfp.org):
Jean-Pierre de Margerie, WFP/ Kathmandu, Tel. +977-1-554-2607 ext. 2101, Mob. +977-9-851022619
Nick Keyes, WFP/Bangkok, Tel. +66-2-655-4115 ext, Mob. +66-1-9230362
Robin Lodge WFP/Rome, Tel +39-06-6513-3201, Mob. +39-340-866-2992
Simon Pluess, WFP/Geneva, Tel. +41-22-9178581, Cell. +41-797743821
Trevor Rowe, WFP/New York, Tel. +1-212-9635196, Cell. +1-6468241112, rowe@un.org
Gregory Barrow, WFP/London, Tel. +44-20-72409001, Cell. +44-7968-008474
Jennifer Parmelee, WFP/Washington, Tel. +1-202-6530010 ext. 1149, Mob. +1-202-4223383