KATHMANDU, Sept. 27 (Xinhua) -- Nepali Deputy Prime Minister informed the Constituent Assembly (CA) that 64 people had lost their lives in floods and landslides in western Nepal, Nepali national news agency RSS reported Saturday.

    Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs Bamdev Gautam, who has been looking after also the office of the Prime Minister, said he visited flood affected areas of far-western and mid-western regions recently and took information about the damages caused by the floods and directed local administrations to make the relief work effective.

    He said thousands of people were affected by floods and landslides in Kailali, Kanchanpur, Dadeldhura, Bajura, Doti, Salyan, Bajhang and Darchula.

    He said the meeting of Central Natural Calamities Relief Committee held on Friday decided to release 77.3 million rupees (around 1.4 million U.S. dollars) for the affected districts.

    He said the government would come up with a bigger relief package for the flood and landslide victims once Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal "Prachanda" returns from New York.

    On Friday, after returning to Kathmandu from an inspection visit to flood-hit districts in western Nepal, Gautam said the government is preparing to declare emergency in affected areas in order to expedite relief efforts.

    Issuing a press release on Thursday, Nepali Home Ministry said heavy rains from Sept. 19 to Sept. 21 affected lakhs (1 lakh equals 100,000) of people, killed many lives and caused losses of massive property and displaced thousands of families in Kailali, Kanchanpur, Dadeldhura and Doti districts in the far-west and Banke, Bardiya, Dang and Salyan in the mid-west.