UK Donates $9.7M To Nepal Quake Aid

As Nepal earthquake death toll rose to over 3000, the UK announced a £5 million [$9.7 million] relief package as financial aid to the victims. Three million pounds have been released immediately under Rapid Response Facility for needs on the ground, and the remaining £2 million shall be donated to the British branch of the international organisation — the Red Cross.

International Development Secretary Justine Greening made this announcement even as many Britons were caught up in the massive earthquake and its intense aftershock. Over 60 people have been deployed by the Department for International Development, or the DfID, for the search and rescue operation in the earthquake-hit country.

A DfID-chartered flight from London will arrive in Nepalese capital Kathmandu. It is carrying seven search and rescue crews, four search and rescue dogs, a medical support team and a hazardous materials specialist. They all have loads of relief material like axes, torches, search cameras, rope tents and stretchers in their 11 tonnes of rescue kit.

International Development Secretary Justine Greening said, "These are brave men and women who will be doing crucial, life-saving work on behalf of the UK." Also on board is a Foreign Office Rapid Deployment Team. This will provide further consular assistance to the British. Experts from leading aid agencies like the British Red Cross, Médecins Sans Frontières and Map Action are also with them.

British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said, "We would expect there to be several hundred British nationals in Nepal" but there were currently no reports of any Britons killed or injured. “British embassy staff have helped over 200 British nationals who've presented at the embassy directly."

Plan International’s Tanya Barron told the BBC that though Kathmandu was in an "area of devastation and massive need," the remote mountainous villages were "almost without any support." "The government is doing a good job but nevertheless, I have just driven past families sitting in the middle of the rubble of their homes trying to make little tarpaulins with small children,” she said.

Nepal had not anticipated to be struck by an earthquake of such magnitude which would affect life and property in such alarming proportions. Earthquake consultant Jon Bennett from the Oxford Development Consultants working for the UK government said. He was in the disaster struck nation two weeks ago to study whether Nepal was ready was such a calamitous earthquake.

You can contact the writer at ritambanati@yahoo.com.