BEIJING, April 27 (Xinhua) -- A three-day workshop named China's South-South Assistance to Disaster Recovery Efforts concluded Friday in Beijing.
The workshop was organized by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and co-hosted by the Chinese Academy of Governance.
In 2017, China, under the framework of the South-South Cooperation Assistance Fund, worked with the UNDP to provide support for recovery and reconstruction efforts for half a million people in five affected countries: Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Dominica, and Antigua and Barbuda.
"China's support has been essential to restore lives and livelihoods of disaster-affected people, reconnect them to development and strengthen their resilience," said Xu Haoliang, United Nations assistant secretary-general and UNDP director of the regional bureau for Asia and Pacific.
About 150 officials and professionals from more than 10 countries attended the workshop, to share results of China's support in these five countries and draw expertise from China's disaster recovery experience.
China's efforts have been fruitful. According to UNDP, over 470,000 people in Nepal and Bangladesh have received shelter, emergency kits and relief packages. In Pakistan, 18,750 children and 80,269 internally displaced people received new school facilities and aid packages. More than 850 houses have started the roof rebuilding process in Dominica and Barbuda.
In 2017, Nepal suffered the worst flood seen in the past 60 years, which caused extensive damage and displacement. Over 80 percent of land in its southern Terai region was under water. In this context, China partnered with UNDP to provide 4 million U.S. dollars for recovery.
"China's help was useful and timely to our flood-affected community," said Suman Kumar Karna, chief of flood recovery and reconstruction projects at Nepal's national reconstruction authority. "China shows its responsibility as a friendly, thoughtful and responsible neighbor."
China's support reached more than 31,800 households in Nepal.
"The supplies enabled these people to live in better conditions, putting smile back to their faces," Karna said..
"China has a well-organized disaster recovery system. There is a lot that we can learn from China's knowledge and information," Karna told Xinhua, predicting China's support would have a long term impact.
