UPDATE NEPAL BEATS PAKISTAN IN WOMEN’S FOOTBALL Kathmandu, 8 Sept.: Nepal beat Pakistan 8-0 in the first Group B match of the second SAFF Women’s Championship in Colombo Saturday. Jamuna Gurung scored four goals. Nepal plays Maldives Monday. Nnnn CHEETRI/KHAS UNITING Kathmandu, 8 Sept.: Cheetri/Khas are uniting for their rights and ethnic identity. Unity moves between the groups have been initiated. nnnn 650 FAMILIES OF DEAD AND INJURED WORKERS COMPENSATED- Kathmandu, 8 Sept.: It seems that it is not just remittance that migrant workers bring back home, they are also bringing in money as compensation for deaths and injuries. As work-related deaths and injuries are on the rise, a significant number of migrant workers have been receiving compensation from their companies, Roshan Sedhai writes in The Kathmandu Post. According to the Finance Section of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), around 650 families of dead and injured migrant workers received a total of Rs 200 million as compensation in the past one year alone. They were reimbursed mostly by the companies of major destination countries like Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). While some families received just a few dollars, others have received up to 500,000 Qatari Riyal (Rs 12.5 m). The amount of compensation varies depending on the country and the stature of the company. However, the injured are liable for higher amounts than the dead. “The amount of compensation differs depending on the country and the company. But reimbursement for injuries is usually higher as there is cap on the compensation amount for deaths,” said Dilip Poudel. Poudel said that Qatar provides a maximum of 200,000 Riyal (Rs 5 m) to a deceased’s family, while the amount could go much higher for those injured. Ministry officials said they dispatch letters to around 50-60 families every month informing them of their compensation money. However, many families have yet to visit the ministry to claim the money despite several letters dispatched. The Consular Section of the MoFA had dispatched letters to around 550 families residing in 68 districts in early July, among which many were being sent for the second or third time. “Many families do not receive the letters as they might have migrated to some other places. Others do not want to make the long journey for a petty amount,” said Poudel, chief of the Consular Section. In order to avoid higher bank commission fees, companies with a significant presence of Nepali migrants usually dispatch compensation amounts only after accumulating a few cases, normally when figures reach over a million. Normally, respectable companies with good jobs provide compensation. Meanwhile, workers with bad jobs, long work hours and hazardous workplace conditions are less likely to receive compensation even though they are more likely to die or be injured. Officials said the latter group of workers constitutes a large section of the workers’ community. They said that the government should lobby to provide compensation to everyone, irrespective of their country or work. According to accumulated records from the Nepali missions in destination countries, at least 7,000 Nepalis have lost their lives in just a decade and a half. However, the number could possibly be much higher as many illegal migrant deaths go unnoticed or unreported. At present, 3-4 Nepali migrants die on a daily basis. nnnn DEATH TOLL IN CHINA QUAKE MOUNTS TO 80 Kathmandu, 8 Sept.:: Rescuers in southwestern China tried on Saturday to reach remote communities rocked by back-to-back earthquakes that killed at least 80 people and damaged tens of thousands of buildings, the official Xinhua news agency said, Reuters reports from Shanghai. Friday's shallow 5.6 magnitude quakes struck an impoverished, mountainous part of the country with poor infrastructure and telecommunications and the death toll could rise as news trickles out of cut-off areas, it said. Most of the victims were from Yiliang county in Yunnan province, near the epicenter. Footage from state broadcaster CCTV showed boulder-covered roadways, abandoned cars and black smoke billowing from buildings. President Hu Jintao, visiting the Russian city of Vladivostok for an Asia-Pacific summit, called for efforts to help the victims and Premier Wen Jiabao headed to the quake zone, Xinhua reported. Rescuers in Yunnan said late on Friday they had reached 90 percent of the six quake-hit counties under the jurisdiction of Zhaotong city, where 740,000 people had been affected by the quakes, it said. Direct economic losses tallied 3.5 billion yuan ($552 million), Yunnan's civil affairs department was quoted as saying. Officials in neighboring Guizhou said two people were injured and the lives of nearly 28,000 people were disrupted in Weining county, on the Yunnan border. Buildings in China's less developed regions are often built with little regard for construction standards, making them susceptible to earthquakes. The first one at 11:19 a.m. (0319 GMT) on Friday and the second one about 45 minutes later at a depth of about 10 km (6 miles), according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Earthquakes with an epicentre less than 70 km (45 miles) below the surface are considered shallow and can cause significant damage, even at lower magnitudes. In 2008, about 87,600 people were killed in the southwestern province of Sichuan when a 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit. Many of the victims died in the rubble of homes and schools built without adequate steel reinforcement. nnnn