UN releases $15 million emergency aid for quake-hit Nepal

GENEVA: The UN today released $ 15 million as emergency aid for quake-hit Nepal to "scale up" the rescue operations in the country which is facing an acute shortage of food, water, electricity and medicines.

"I have just allocated $ 15 million for Nepal from the UN's emergency fund UNCERF so that aid agencies can rapidly scale up and save lives," tweeted Valerie Amos, UN Under- Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs.

UN agencies are coordinating international efforts and are working with partners in Nepal, including the government, to ensure the aid reaches to the affected people.

"This is a race against time. It's also a race against a moving target in the sense that we still do not have a full assessment of the needs and requirements in the rural areas outside of Kathmandu," said Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the Office of the Coordination for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

"An airlift of UNHCR relief supplies is arriving in Kathmandu from our warehouse in Dubai, These supplies will boost the aid we have already deployed to our earthquake-affected areas from our in-country stocks," said Arianne Rummery, UNHCR spokesperson.

This airlift will target 30,000 quake survivors identified by the authorities.