Japan provides emergency funding for rubble removal in Gaza through UNDP – Japan MoFA/UNDP press release

Press Release

Japan Provides Emergency Funding for Rubble Removal in Gaza through UNDP

Jerusalem, 17 December 2014 – UNDP’s Programme of Assistance to the Palestinian People (PAPP) has been entrusted with a USD 500,000 contribution from The Government of Japan to remove rubble and debris in the Gaza Strip.

With the Government of Japan’s contribution, around 30,000 tonnes of rubble will be removed over the period of 10 months, generating approximately 5,400 workdays.

UNDP will move rapidly in clearing the rubble in order to provide more than 187,000 people residing in the Middle Area of the Gaza Strip with access to basic services, reduce the risk of collapsing buildings and the threat of UXOs and other remnants of war. The rubble, once crushed, will be recycled and used for road rehabilitation.

UNDP estimates that around two million tonnes of rubble have been generated during the 51 day Israeli military operation on Gaza, which is three times more than the amount of rubble generated during 2008-09 Gaza conflict.

It is worth noting that the Government of Japan’s contribution will bring the total amount of funding for UNDP’s Emergency Rubble Removal Programme to USD 13.7 million out of approximately USD 20 million.

UNDP’s Programme of Assistance to the Palestinian People is responding to the Gaza crisis by enhancing livelihoods through emergency employment, rubble removal, repairing essential infrastructure, restoring solid waste services and providing institutional support towards a unified civil service and institutional harmonization.

For further information, please contact:

Dania Darwish, Communications Specialist, Tel. +972-2-6268229 – e-mail: dania.darwish@undp.org.

For more information on UNDP/PAPP see http://www.ps.undp.org.

UNDP partners with people at all levels of society to help build nations that can withstand crisis, and drive and sustain the kind of growth that improves the quality of life for everyone. On the ground in more than 170 countries and territories, we offer global perspective and local insight to help empower lives and build resilient nations.

http://www.ps.emb-japan.go.jp/PressRelease/PressRelease2014/n17December_English.pdf