Nepal floods threaten jobs and livelihoods beyond disaster zone: ILO

The deadly flash floods in northern Nepal have severely disrupted employment and livelihoods, with wider impacts beyond communities that were directly affected, the International Labour Organization (ILO) said in a preliminary assessment released on Thursday.“The employment consequences of this disaster will not stop at the edge of the flooded area,” said Numan Özcan, ILO Country Director for Nepal. “Damage to transport links, electricity infrastructure and trade routes can carry the shock through supply chains, markets and connected services, affecting workers and enterprises much farther away.” Loss and destructionThe catastrophic flooding in late August – triggered by a glacier collapse on the border with China – destroyed homes, workplaces, roads, bridges and energy infrastructure. More than 1,450 people were killed and 5,786 are still missing, according to the authorities. The ILO estimated that some 21,400 employed people live within four kilometres of the “flood footprint”, and the disaster has disrupted economic activity and blocked workers from reaching jobs, markets and essential services. People working in tourism, agriculture and transport and those employed by small bu...