The FINANCIAL — On May 4, the European Commission has approved financial support worth €16.6 million to assist Nepal after the devastating earthquake that hit the country just over a week ago.
The assistance will be provided directly to the Government of Nepal and will be available later this week. Following the joint EU-UN mission to Nepal, an additional €3 million of emergency aid has also been made available today, bringing the total of the European Commission’s support since the earthquake struck to €22.6 million. This comes on top of bilateral assistance from EU Member States, according to EU.
EU Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development, Neven Mimica, commented: “This support is an expression of our solidarity with the Nepalese people. It is vital for the Government of Nepal to allow relief efforts to continue, as well as to kick-start rehabilitation work after the devastating earthquake. As soon as the needs assessments are completed, we will look into how we can further assist people in Nepal.”
This announcement follows the full mobilisation of the Commission’s humanitarian and emergency response tools to help respond to the disaster. Commissioner Christos Stylianides, responsible for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management, has just returned from Nepal where he took stock of the needs and the European efforts to help.
“I have witnessed the magnitude of the destruction and of the support that will be needed to recover from such a devastating earthquake. I reaffirmed the EU’s tangible solidarity with the government and people of Nepal and with the heroic emergency actors working around the clock on the ground. This announced assistance will allow us to efficiently link our current emergency efforts with the longer term reconstruction phase” Commissioner Stylianides said.
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