Over 8,000 people were killed, more than double of it injured while many were rendered homeless when the Great Earthquake rattled the country on April 25. Powerful aftershocks thereafter worsened the situation.

Though the government and different organisations have been distributing humanitarian assistance in different quake-affected areas, many villages, which do not have access to road, are yet to get sufficient relief materials and realising this fact, the WFP has joined hands with Trekking Agencies' Association of Nepal (TAAN) and Nepal Mountaineering Association to provide assistance to far-flung villages in six most-affected districts- Gorkha, Dhading, Rasuwa, Nuwakot, Sindhupalchowk and Dolakha.

This was shared at a news conference here Wednesday. As per the agreement, WFP will deliver humanitarian cargo to mutually agreed locations where porter services will be made available by the two organizations. These locations, referred to as 'Base Camps', will be located in areas accessible by road or by large helicopter.

Essential goods including foodstuffs will be supplied via air, WFP Emergency Coordinator for the Earthquake Response in Nepal , Richard Ragan said. "This is a unique effort by the WFP. Together, we are opening up trails that have been made accessible so we can deliver food and much-needed relief supplies and we are employing a large labor force of porters who have lost their livelihoods as a result of the early conclusion of the tourism season, "he said.

The relief supply will take place in two phases for around three million people of the agreed locations.

Similarly, TAAN President Ramesh Prasad Dhamala said the programme will help in tourism recovery by opening blocked community trails and providing livelihood to local community as well as deliver humanitarian assistance to affected people. NMA President Ang Tshering Sherpa thanked WFP for entering into a partnership with TAAN and NMA for providing humanitarian assistance to people in hilly and mountain areas of the country which have suffered the most from the earthquake. RSS