2m survivors need urgent food assistance: UN report
Sunday, 25 November 2007
FE Report
More than two million Cyclone Sidr survivors in the country's southwest coastal areas are in dire need of "immediate, life-saving" food assistance, according to a rapid assessment report of the United Nations.
The report, prepared by a mission of the UN, noted that immediate drinking water supplies are required for an estimated 1.2 million people, as the cyclonic storm that struck Bangladesh's coastline on November 15 contaminated water wells in the worst-affected areas.
"Food and water are the highest priority needs to help the victims save their lives," says the report.
The UN assessment identified the rapid need to expand the distribution of nutritionally balanced rations of rice, pulses, oil and other food stuffs.
In some of the worst affected areas, water wells were contaminated with saline water, and canals and other fresh water sources have been polluted by the cyclone, the report pointed out.
Materials such as tents, tarpaulins and corrugated iron sheets, wood, poles and tools are high priority items in the worst affected districts, where houses located in very close proximity to shorelines and in open wind exposed areas were the most damaged, according to the assessment report.
"This is particularly urgent since temperatures are dropping with the advent of winter. Blankets and warm clothing are also important in this regard," it said.
Quick repair of medical facilities and health clinics, restoration of electric power in support of medical services and assistance in re-establishing sanitation facilities are also important, the assessment report stressed.
Meanwhile, the UN increased its Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) allocation to a total of US$14.7 million to pay for international relief assistance for victims of Cyclone Sidr.
This brings the total UN system response to about US$35 million, and this figure will continue to rise over the next few weeks, says a UNDP press release.
This funding will enable UN system to ensure supply of drinking water for communities at risk from water-borne illness and other vital assistance, said Renata Lok Dessallien, the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Bangladesh.
"The CERF funding is crucial for preventing epidemics of water-borne disease in the Cyclone-affected areas and for saving lives at this moment," she added.
Meanwhile, another UN press release adds: The United Nations (UN) Friday announced that it would disburse an additional US$6.0 million to support relief efforts for hundreds of thousands of cyclone survivors in Bangladesh, as UN agencies continued rushing aid to the affected population.
The new disbursement comes atop $9.0 million already granted by the UN's Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) after the disaster hit on November 15, said the press release issued Friday by the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in New York Friday.
The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), meanwhile, reported that a recent mission to the hardest-hit areas in Bangladesh showed that the damage was worse than expected.
"The cyclone has predisposed thousands of children and women to the increased risk of illness and death due to malnutrition," said Dr Iyorlumun Uhaa, Chief of Health and Nutrition for UNICEF Bangladesh.
"Of the estimated five million people affected, half are children and one eighth or 600,000 are under the age of five. The cold weather and vulnerability to cold, hunger, trauma, diarrhoea and other communicable diseases will increase many times unless urgent life-saving assistance is provided to children and women immediately."
The agency is procuring 100,000 blankets, 60,000 children's clothes, 60,000 family kits, and 60,000 plastic sheets for use in cyclone-stricken areas, and has moved two mobile water treatment plants to hard-hit districts.
The World Food Programme (WFP) is continuing to distribute food, including high-energy biscuits, by helicopters, boats and trucks. A second distribution to 465,000 survivors has taken place, and WFP will now start distributing 750 tonnes of rice to more than two million people.
"WFP is working very closely with the Bangladesh Air Force to ensure ready-to-eat foods get to those people who need our help the most," said Douglas Broderick, WFP Country Representative.
Following the present and continuing distribution of dry, ready-to-eat foods to hundreds of thousands of cyclone victims, WFP will provide longer term monthly food rations including rice, lentil and oil to more than 2.3 million persons in the nine worst affected districts in southern and coastal Bangladesh.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) is helping prepare a needs assessment of emergency drugs that would be required for the next six months, while the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation has established an emergency coordination and rehabilitation unit in Bangladesh, where agriculture, livestock and fisheries sectors in the southern part of the country have suffered enormous losses.
More than two million Cyclone Sidr survivors in the country's southwest coastal areas are in dire need of "immediate, life-saving" food assistance, according to a rapid assessment report of the United Nations.
The report, prepared by a mission of the UN, noted that immediate drinking water supplies are required for an estimated 1.2 million people, as the cyclonic storm that struck Bangladesh's coastline on November 15 contaminated water wells in the worst-affected areas.
"Food and water are the highest priority needs to help the victims save their lives," says the report.
The UN assessment identified the rapid need to expand the distribution of nutritionally balanced rations of rice, pulses, oil and other food stuffs.
In some of the worst affected areas, water wells were contaminated with saline water, and canals and other fresh water sources have been polluted by the cyclone, the report pointed out.
Materials such as tents, tarpaulins and corrugated iron sheets, wood, poles and tools are high priority items in the worst affected districts, where houses located in very close proximity to shorelines and in open wind exposed areas were the most damaged, according to the assessment report.
"This is particularly urgent since temperatures are dropping with the advent of winter. Blankets and warm clothing are also important in this regard," it said.
Quick repair of medical facilities and health clinics, restoration of electric power in support of medical services and assistance in re-establishing sanitation facilities are also important, the assessment report stressed.
Meanwhile, the UN increased its Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) allocation to a total of US$14.7 million to pay for international relief assistance for victims of Cyclone Sidr.
This brings the total UN system response to about US$35 million, and this figure will continue to rise over the next few weeks, says a UNDP press release.
This funding will enable UN system to ensure supply of drinking water for communities at risk from water-borne illness and other vital assistance, said Renata Lok Dessallien, the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Bangladesh.
"The CERF funding is crucial for preventing epidemics of water-borne disease in the Cyclone-affected areas and for saving lives at this moment," she added.
Meanwhile, another UN press release adds: The United Nations (UN) Friday announced that it would disburse an additional US$6.0 million to support relief efforts for hundreds of thousands of cyclone survivors in Bangladesh, as UN agencies continued rushing aid to the affected population.
The new disbursement comes atop $9.0 million already granted by the UN's Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) after the disaster hit on November 15, said the press release issued Friday by the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in New York Friday.
The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), meanwhile, reported that a recent mission to the hardest-hit areas in Bangladesh showed that the damage was worse than expected.
"The cyclone has predisposed thousands of children and women to the increased risk of illness and death due to malnutrition," said Dr Iyorlumun Uhaa, Chief of Health and Nutrition for UNICEF Bangladesh.
"Of the estimated five million people affected, half are children and one eighth or 600,000 are under the age of five. The cold weather and vulnerability to cold, hunger, trauma, diarrhoea and other communicable diseases will increase many times unless urgent life-saving assistance is provided to children and women immediately."
The agency is procuring 100,000 blankets, 60,000 children's clothes, 60,000 family kits, and 60,000 plastic sheets for use in cyclone-stricken areas, and has moved two mobile water treatment plants to hard-hit districts.
The World Food Programme (WFP) is continuing to distribute food, including high-energy biscuits, by helicopters, boats and trucks. A second distribution to 465,000 survivors has taken place, and WFP will now start distributing 750 tonnes of rice to more than two million people.
"WFP is working very closely with the Bangladesh Air Force to ensure ready-to-eat foods get to those people who need our help the most," said Douglas Broderick, WFP Country Representative.
Following the present and continuing distribution of dry, ready-to-eat foods to hundreds of thousands of cyclone victims, WFP will provide longer term monthly food rations including rice, lentil and oil to more than 2.3 million persons in the nine worst affected districts in southern and coastal Bangladesh.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) is helping prepare a needs assessment of emergency drugs that would be required for the next six months, while the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation has established an emergency coordination and rehabilitation unit in Bangladesh, where agriculture, livestock and fisheries sectors in the southern part of the country have suffered enormous losses.