India, China Pledge Millions in Earthquake Relief Funds to Nepal
KATHMANDU, Nepal, June 25 (UPI) — India has pledged $1 billion, the Asian Development Bank pledged $600 million and China pledged $500 million for Nepal to rebuild after April and May’s catastrophic earthquakes.
Nepal said it needs $7 billion in aid to rebuild. The country was struck with a 7.8-magnitude earthquake in April and a 7.3-magnitude quake in May, both which set off landslides and avalanches throughout the region.
Nearly 9,000 people died and 500,000 homes were destroyed. About 2.8 million people were affected, many of them displaced.
Relief fund donors said they were concerned government inefficiency and excessive bureaucracy would ruin relief funds, but Nepal’s Prime Minister Sushil Koirala said at the international donors’ conference in the capital Kathmandu, where the funds were pledged on Thursday, that the relief funds would be used wisely.
“I assure you that we will [leave] no stone unturned in ensuring that the support reaches the intended beneficiaries,” Koirala said, vowing “zero tolerance toward corruption.”
About a third of Nepal’s gross domestic product was wiped out by the earthquakes. The country relies on agriculture and tourism. Nearly a million people could be pushed into poverty by the natural disasters.
Nepal has received about $3 billion in relief fund pledges.
Other donations include:
$260 million from Japan.
$130 million from the United States.
$100 million from the European Union.
$500 million from the World Bank (previously announced).
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