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Scientology Volunteer Ministers Say Nepal Still Needs Help as Government Sells Off Donated Relief Food

Photo courtesy of ScientologyNews.org
Photo courtesy of ScientologyNews.org
Scientology’s Volunteer Ministers are still bringing hope and helping Nepal recover from a 2015 earthquake.

In April last year, Kathmandu, Nepal experienced a tragic earthquake that killed more than 9,000 people and destroyed more than half a million houses. According to a press release from the Church of Scientology, it is estimated that over 2 million people are still homeless.

It has been more than one year now, but the issue of food insecurity has escalated in the refugees’ camp as the government of Nepal decided to sell donated rice instead of distributing it to the needy.

Scientology Volunteer Ministers Say Nepal Still Needs Help as Government Sells Off Donated Relief Food[/tweetthis]

The World Food Programme estimated that 1.4M people were in urgent need of emergency food supply after the earthquake, and it pleaded with governments globally to give their donations to Nepal.

As a result, statistics from state-run Nepal Food Corporation indicated that the country received close to 11,200 tons of rice from Dhaka and Beijing although only 20 percent of this relief food was distributed to the displaced people.

Pawan Kumar Karki, the Nepal Food Corporation spokesperson defended the move to sell donated rice saying, “The remaining rice has been sitting in our godown (warehouse) for 10 months and now that Bangladesh has donated even more rice to us, we don’t have enough space to store it all. So we started selling the rice last month and will deposit the proceeds in a fund operated by the government.” Karki gave this report without giving many details about the funds and how the victims are going to benefit.

Karki said that the government has made a lot of effort in distributing relief food to the victims and claimed that Kathmandu did not distribute rice to the affected regions for a long time. He also claimed that Kathmandu stopped in just a few months after the earthquake making such regions more vulnerable to food shortage.

“We were distributing rice, lentils and other supplies right until February… while there have been improvements, there are still pockets of food insecurity among households headed by single mothers or belonging to marginalized communities,” said a World Food Programme spokeswoman.

Kathmandu hosts a permanent Scientology Volunteer center which has provided support to those who were left homeless after the Nepal 2015 earthquake. The centre is comprised of thousands of volunteers who work in several villages throughout the country serving in various capacities including feeding programs, medical, and construction works.

Nepal was in danger even before the 2015 quake. It was ranked 145th on the United Nations Human Development Index, which classifies as “Low Human Development.” In addition to helping physically rebuild the community, Volunteer Ministers are also working with schools to implement “study technology” developed by the religion’s founder, L. Ron Hubbard.

The ministry urges members of the society to give back to their communities in a positive way. All volunteers are motivated by the Scientology Volunteer Minister motto which states; “Something can be done about it.”

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