The World Bank has approved $250-million assistance for Uttarakhand, which was hit hard by rains and landslides in June that killed 580 people, to help the State undertake rehabilitation work and strengthen its capacity for disaster management.

“In order to respond in a timely manner, the project was fast-tracked under the World Bank’s emergency procedures and was prepared within a three-month period,” said a release.

India had sought assistance from multilateral agencies like the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for undertaking rehabilitation work in Uttarakhand. ADB too is expected to finalise its assistance package soon.

“A team has been in Dehradun from the day the request for assistance was sent by the government. We all know winter is quite harsh in these parts and so it was important for us to get the project going and help shelter people before winter hits them”, World Bank’s Country Director in India Onno Ruhl said.

Earlier, a joint World Bank and ADB team conducted a Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment (JRDNA) at the request of the Indian Government to rebuild the state’s infrastructure and assets lost in the June disaster.

JRDNA has estimated the physical damages across a range of sectors and calculated the cost of reconstruction at about $661 million.

The sectors covered included housing and public infrastructure, roads and bridges, water supply and sanitation, livelihoods (in agriculture, fisheries and medium and small-scale enterprises), tourism, energy and environment.

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