Gautam Devi Gharti, a recipient of the senior citizen allowance, collected Rs. 13,500 from her Social Security Allowance (SSA) bank account, as a multi-purpose cash relief for the October 2021 Karnali flood. For the first time in Nepal, the Social Protection system has been used to provide disaster relief.

The Nepal Red Cross Society (NRCS) in partnership with Tikapur and Janaki municipalities in Kailali district, was able to distribute multi-purpose cash to 111 individuals last week. They each were sent an SMS on their mobile phone informing that cash had been deposited into their SSA bank account as a relief assistance.

The support was provided to persons with disabilities in Tikapur, and to all SSA recipients in Janaki, who were affected by the flood. With financial support from the European Union and technical support from the Danish Red Cross, the NRCS has been working to find ways of using the Social Protection system to reach at-risk communities at the earliest, and possibly even before a disaster strikes.

As a result, the SSA was used to identify and communicate with flood affected SSA beneficiaries and quickly provide them with cash relief to help them through a tough time.