Nepal to get $20 million from climate fund after deadly August flood

KATHMANDU - Nepal will receive $20 million in aid from the United Nations' climate loss and damage fund after the devastating flood along its border with China's Tibet region in August, the government said late on Thursday.

The August 26 flood killed about 1,500 people and more than 5,000 are still missing.

The flood affected about 60,000 people from 15,000 families, according to official data, and caused losses estimated at about $2.7 billion to infrastructure including roads, bridges, schools and 13 hydropower plants.

Early official estimates show reconstruction bills could top $4.7 billion.

The UN climate aid accounts for less than 1% of what Nepal needs to cover the cost of the flood.

The support from the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage (FRLD) was to "help address the severe damage caused by climate-related disaster," the Ministry of Agriculture, Forests and Environment said in a statement.

Nepal had sought the assistance in a letter to the FRLD in August, less than a week after the flood.

Prime Minister Balendra Shah, 36, in his maiden speech to the United Nations in September, said Nepal's disaster served as a warning to the world and he blamed climate change for the flood despite his country's negligible emissions.