UN aid chief ‘concerned’ Nepal delaying deliveries

KATHMANDU, Nepal – The UN’s humanitarian chief said on Saturday, May 2, she was “extremely concerned” that Nepal’s customs authorities were slowing the delivery of quake aid, and had urged the prime minister to fix the problem.

There have been numerous reports of foreign aid getting stuck at Kathmandu’s small international airport or even turned back at the border with India by customs officials.

“I was extremely concerned to hear reports that customs was taking such a long time. I was able to raise this with the prime minister this morning,” Valerie Amos told Agence France-Presse (AFP) at the end of a visit to Nepal after a 7.8-magnitude quake that has killed thousands and left many more homeless. (READ: Key facts about the Nepal quake)

Amos said she had reminded Prime Minister Sushil Koirala that Nepal had signed an agreement with the United Nations in 2007 that provides for simpler and faster customs clearance for relief aid in the event of a disaster.

“He has undertaken to ensure that happens, so I hope that from now we will see an improvement in those administrative issues.”

Nepal’s government has faced criticism for the slow pace of relief efforts, with many remote communities yet to receive any aid a week after the quake struck. (READ: Nepal quake: Far-flung areas await aid, rescue)

The country’s only international airport has also struggled to cope, with flights carrying aid being turned away because there was no space to park the plane.

Amos said access to the airport was improving, and the UN was looking at bringing more aid into the landlocked country overland from India.

But she said much more needed to be done to reach quake victims in remote mountainous areas of Nepal, already one of the world’s poorest countries even before the quake struck.

Some 6,700 people are known to have died in the quake so far. – Rappler.com