Speaking at a press meet held at the Home Ministry today, Government spokesperson and Minister for Information and Communications Dr Minendra Rijal said though some shortcomings may have taken place at this time of great disaster every possible effort shall be made to provide all kinds of services to the quake affected people, while also continuing with the relief and rescue operations.
Stating that so far 26,700 tents were distributed, Dr Rijal said around 500,000 tents was being imported in a day or two to make sure that everyone in need of a tent gets one. "Some 100,000 tents would arrive by tonight from India and another 100,000 each will be imported from Pakistan, China and Thailand", he said.
Shedding light on the ongoing rescue efforts, Dr Rijal said efforts are underway to complete the rescue work by Thursday in all the districts, with the help of use of 21 helicopters. So far, 866 have been rescued with aerial support while 1,062 were rescued using the land route.
Rescuers from 25 countries including China, India, Russia, Pakistan, Malaysia, Singapore, France among others have been mobilized for the rescue work with stakeholders working to provide food, drinking water and other necessary materials to the quake victims.
He also said that arrangement has been made to provide all the relief materials received in assistance from foreign countries through a one-door policy. A monitoring mechanism has been formed under the convenorship of the Prime Minister with representation of all the political parties represented in the Legislature-Parliament. A similar mechanism has been formed at the district level under the convenorship of the Chief District Officer.
Furthermore, the Government has arranged 500 buses for those wishing to leave the capital for their respective home districts. While, obstruction in 11 highways including BP Highway has been removed. Efforts are on to clear the Araniko Highway.
The 1234 call centre set up by the government to help with necessary rescue and relief assistance received 3,366 calls as of 3:00 pm on Wednesday. It had received 3,461 calls on Tuesday.
The Prime Minister's Natural Relief Fund has a deposit of Rs. 1.5 billion as of Wednesday. The government has so far distributed Rs. 434 million in the 12 quake affected districts.
According to information shared at the press meet, the death toll in the Gorkha quake so far has reached 5,026 with 10,227 injured.
Dr Rijal on the occasion also said that a total of 65,000 Nepali Army personnel, 31,500 Nepal Police personnel and 17,000 Armed Police Force personnel have been mobilized for the rescue and relief works in the quake affected districts. RSS
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