Revised amount to be issued in two weeks:
Lanka receives over 20 percent of UN’s Flash Appeal
by Shanika SRIYANANDA
Sri Lanka has received more than 20 percent of the Flash Appeal of US
$ 51 million in emergency funding of the United Nations and have called
for more due to the heavy displacement and losses caused due to the
second wave of floods last week, UN Resident Coordinator Neil Buhne
said.
He told the Sunday Observer that the Flash Appeal was being modified
taking into account the new needs due to the recent floods and the
revised amount would be issued in two weeks. “We are very concerned
about the impact caused by the floods and more than a million people
have been affected twice and hundreds of thousands of them became
displaced.
The UN system is providing immediate relief measures - non-food
items, food and drinking water for those affected though the road access
to continue relief measures has been damaged due to the floods,” he
said.
Buhne said the impact of the second wave of floods on the people was
more severe than the first. People need help to restore their
livelihoods.
These people often return to damaged or ruined houses and use water
from contaminated wells. Their crops - paddy, green gram, vegetables or
fruits and livestock have been destroyed.
The floods came at the worst time as farmers often borrow money
anticipating a good income from the harvest and now they may be in debt.
For people with little or no land they were expecting most of their
annual income by now”, he said.
He stressed the need to repair the irrigation systems to have a good
Maha harvest soon. “ The damage to smaller tanks and linked irrigation
systems is extensive with almost 100,000 hectares of land affected. This
will affect some of the Yala crops and could affect next year’s Maha
harvest too, if repairs are not done fast”, he said.
According to the UN Chief in Sri Lanka, the World Food Programme (WFP),
has distributed six-days of food amounting to 340 metric tons for around
192,000 persons in Batticaloa, Ampara, Trincomalee, Anuradhapura and the
Polonnaruwa districts.
“The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) despatched around 4,600
tarpaulins to the Ampara and Trincomalee districts,while the
International Organisation for Migration (IOM) supplied 9,000 plastic
sheets and tarpaulins for flood-affected communities in the Batticaloa
and Ampara districts. The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) provided
400 tents for the affected districts”, Buhne said. |