3. - usaid

in organizing relief activities. Members of the Relief amnittee included
the Chairman of the Mstrict Panchayat, the Chief Mstricl; Officer, the
Panchayat Development Officer, the Assistant Zonal Corrrnis:;ioner and the
Police Inspector. kder their canbined leadership, food, clothing, medicine,
money and shelter were provided to the affected families. In Narche Bazaar
in Solukhumbu Mstrict, for example, the homeless were qu:lckly accamodated
by members of the commmity. In other conarmnities, the people rallied to
the support of the flood victims by assisting; them in con!structing temporary
houses made of bamboo and by providing food. Due to the loss of houses and
farm land, an estimated 500 people migrated from the affected regions of
Nepal to resettle in neighboring Sikkim, Biratnagar, and India, and to the
southern or terai areas of Nepal.
The local and national Bnergency Relief Conanittees continue to exist and
will probably remain as the basic organizational structure for relief in
the event of similar disasters in the future.
ASSISTANCE PROVIDED BY THE U.
S. GOWBNMDJT
American Ambassador, Carol Laise, exercised her disaster :relief authority
and approved expenditures from the AID contingency ftmd local currency
totaling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ; . . . . . . . . . . . $2,500
Of this-amount, $1,000 was used to make local purchase of 1,314 pounds &d
4,372 meters of cloth for shirts, trousers, blouses, and saris, as requested
by the Govemnt of Nepal. The remaining $1,500 was used to cover helicopter
and truck transportation expenses to deliver the cloth to Taplejung,
Terhathum and Panchtar. As mentioned, the USAID helicopter was also used
to take the Pr* Minister to the disaster area.
The officers responsible for the distribution of the c1ot.h were Mr. Sher
Bahadur Shah, Joint Secretary in the Home-Panchayat Ministry of the
Government of Nepal, and Dr. James E. Blackwell, Chief of the Panchayat
Development and Administration Division of USAID/Nepal.
An adequate number of people were on hand to receive the cloth and to
arrange for its distribution to the victims of the flood and landslides.
This U. S. assistance was considered adequate in light of contributions
made by other nations.
News coverage, including photopaphs, of the Awrican contribution and the
distribution of the cloth appeared in all English language newspapers, in
several of the Nepalese language newspapers, and was broadcast over Radio
Nepal.
ASSISTANCE PROVIDED BY U.
Amrican Red Cross - medicaments
S. VOLUNTARY AGENCIES