26 May, Kathmandu:

Home Minister Shakti Bahadur Basnet has said government is to allocate budget to set up emergency rescue centres in all districts across the country.

Speaking at a programme organized by Oxfam Nepal on ’emergency drinking water, sanitation and handover of response materials’ here Wednesday, Home Minister Basnet said the centre would be equipped with necessary assets. According to him, it was time to learn from the past disasters and make effective preparedness in the coming days.

At the programme, Home Minister Basnet handed over the emergency drinking water and disaster response materials to the concerned bodies. The emergency drinking water system have been installed in the premises of Tribhuvan University, Kirtipur, National Agriculture Research Council (NARC), Khumaltar and at Dikhu of Kirtipur municipality ward no 6, by Oxfam and its partners Info and Lumanti. Assistance for this was provided by DFID.

The emergency drinking water system includes deep boring, treatment plant, sediment tank, generator and the tank capacious for 50,000 litres of water while the emergency response materials are sanitation item, non-food items and essentials for temporary shelters.

On the occasion, DFID country director Gail Marzetti and Oxfam country director Cicilia Keizer underscored that there was no alternative for disaster preparedness. For this, concerted efforts from government, NGOs and civil society were essential, they added. RSS