UNWTO helping with quake-hit Nepal recovery
View(s):MALDIVES, Male – The UN World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) has pledged support to rebuild earthquake hit-Nepal, saying it was providing toolkits and (rebuilding) guidelines for the tourism industry and local communities.
“We are not an aid agency but we come (and help) after everybody else (in the first wave of support) like the Red Cross and aid agencies have returned. Our task is to build for quick recovery. We need to ensure Nepal is back to business fast and local communities are getting the benefits,” noted Taleb Rifai, Secretary General of the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), speaking at a UNWTO regional meeting held at the Bandos Resort and Spa in the Maldives on June 4-5.
He said it was important that tourists return to Nepal which was devastated by the April 25 earthquake that killed more than 8,800 people and injured more than 23,000. Centuries-old buildings were destroyed at UNESCO World heritage sites. This was followed by a major aftershock on May 12 in which more than 200 people were killed and more than 2,500 injured.
Suresh Man Shrestha, Secretary at Nepal’s Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, told the meeting that they were hoping to reopen the seven major UNESCO heritage sites to visitors on June 15. “I am moved by the expressions of support to Nepal from Dr. Taleb and other delegates at this meeting,” he said adding that more than 500,000 houses were damaged or destroyed and 1.2 million rendered homeless.
Maldives Tourism Minister Ahmed Adeeb said the UNWTO provided tremendous support to the Maldives after the 2004 Tsunami destroyed many of its resorts. “The UNWTO played a big role in the post-Tsunami recovery and gave a strong boost to the economy. 2005 was bad year for tourism but with the help of the UNWTO, we had a good year thereafter,” he said
Taleb said the UNWTO’s Department of Risk and Crisis Management is helping Nepal in the rebuilding efforts and pointed that he had just returned from Haiti, five years after the January 2010 earthquake which killed more than 200,000 people, and where the UNWTO is still helping in rebuilding efforts.