Key messages
A devastating earthquake struck central Nepal in April 2015, killing close to 9 000 people and flattening entire villages. The European Commission released humanitarian funding of €12 million to help address the most urgent needs: emergency shelter, emergency healthcare, water and sanitation, livelihood support, and logistics. In the days immediately following the earthquake, the EU Civil Protection Mechanism was also activated to support the delivery of EU Member States' in-kind assistance and relief teams. A specific factsheet contains more details on the Nepal Earthquake* and the EU response.
Nepal is particularly vulnerable to natural disasters and every year there are significant losses of lives and property, and livelihoods are destroyed. Therefore, continued support to vulnerable communities is needed to prepare for and reduce the impact of natural disasters in order to reinforce their resilience capacities.
More than 20 000 refugees who came from Bhutan in the 1990s are still hosted by Nepal. These refugees are not permitted to work and rely almost entirely on food assistance provided by UN Agencies.