Finance Minister Dr. Swarnim Wagle has directed officials to make the assessment of physical damage and needs from the Rasuwa flood highly realistic.
During a meeting held at Ministry of Finance on Tuesday, Finance Minister Dr. Swarnim Wagle directed officials to make the Rapid Disaster Needs Assessment (RDNA) realistic. The discussion was about the preliminary RDNA being prepared by National Planning Commission (NPC) task force and the Global Rapid Post-Disaster Damage Estimation (GRADE) prepared by World Bank.
Minister Wagle said that to make reconstruction and rehabilitation work effective, we must have a realistic assessment of physical damage and needs. He emphasized that government needs an accurate national document based on truth to make correct decisions and secure investments for the affected areas.
Currently, both National Planning Commission and World Bank are working on their separate assessments. The meeting was held with stakeholders to combine these findings and make a single, shared report very soon.
Four Main Sectors of Assessment
The RDNA is looking at damages in four main areas which are social, productive, infrastructure, and cross-cutting sectors. Under the social sector, team is studying damages done to private and public buildings, schools, health centers, and cultural heritage sites.
For productive sector, the damage to agriculture, fisheries, livestock, and financial activities are being assessed. In infrastructure sector, they are looking at hydropower projects, transmission lines, roads, bridges, and telecom services. The huge piles of debris and waste left behind by flood is also included as a cross-cutting issue.
Joint Secretary Arjun Bhandari is leading the NPC task force to prepare this report. Other top officials, including NPC Vice-Chairman Dr. Gunakar Bhatta, also attended the meeting. The government plans to release joint RDNA report very soon, which will help in distributing immediate relief and starting reconstruction work.
AI Disclaimer: This article was originally published on https://bajarkochirfar.com. It has been translated with the help of AI. For the best understanding and accurate facts, we recommend reading the original Nepali version.
