Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to support the people of Nepal following the recent earthquake in that country.

The UK is supporting the humanitarian response through provision of prepositioned relief items, and ongoing support to the UN response. The network of UK-funded Humanitarian Staging Areas is playing a vital role in mobilising and storing relief items for the affected areas. The UK is also a major contributor to the Start Fund Nepal network which has awarded around £200,000 to Non-Government Organisations (NGOs), who are supporting over 8,000 people. We are also supporting the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) Disaster Response Emergency Fund, which is assisting 10,000 people affected by the earthquake through the Nepal Red Cross.