China, in partnership with the UNDP Nepal, will be providing $4 million to support recovery efforts in Nepal’s Tarai region affected by one of the worst floods in recent history.

The assistance provided under the framework of the Chinese South-South Cooperation Assistance Fund, will reach 31,800 households in Sunsari, Saptari, Sarlahi, Dhanusha, Mahottari, Rautahat and Parsa districts of Provinces 1 and 2, the UNDP said in a statement on Thursday.

The project, funded by China and implemented by the UNDP, will work in close coordination with the Flood Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Project under the National Reconstruction Authority (NRA).

At the field level, the UNDP said, the project will collaborate with newly elected governments in carrying out the distribution of a package of non-food items which include shawls, blankets, cooking utensils, an insecticide-treated bed net, a clean cooking stove, a water filter and hygiene kits.

“The Government of Nepal would like to thank China for providing crucial post-flood recovery support to the affected people of Nepal,” said Suman Kumar Karna, chief of the Flood Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Project, in the statement.

Chinese Ambassador to Nepal Yu Hong expressed satisfaction at being able to contribute to the post-flood recovery. “Last August, the Chinese Government provided $1 million in grant assistance to the Government of Nepal for flood disaster relief. This time, we offer another $4 million to help the Nepali people in the flood affected Tarai region recover from the disaster. We are glad to work together with UNDP to provide this recovery package, which includes some basics items that are certain to prove handy in a post-flood situation.”

UNDP Country Director Renaud Meyer expressed hope the relief package would help the flood victims recover rapidly. “We are pleased to partner with the Government of China in contributing to the recovery of flood affected families. We trust these packages of essential non-food items will help flood victims resume their livelihoods and recover rapidly from the disaster,” he said in the statement.

This assistance comes in response to the extensive damage and displacement caused by the 2017 floods in the southern plains. In August last year, the Tarai experienced the heaviest rainfall recorded in the past 60 years, resulting in widespread flooding across 35 districts, leaving 134 people dead, destroying over 43,000 houses, partially damaging 192,000 houses, and displacing tens of thousands of people. Over 80 percent of land in the plains was inundated. A post-flood assessment conducted by the Government of Nepal found that 1.7 million people were affected by the disaster