floods

Many people are returning to their homes in flood-hit Sri Lanka but the humanitarian challenge has only just begun. Oxfam will be scaling up its response to the disaster in the next few days to reach 120,000 people in the Eastern and North Central Provinces.

International aid agency Oxfam has been providing support to thousands caught up in Sri Lanka’s devastating floods. More than a million people have been affected by the floods and need food items, water, blankets and hygiene kits immediately.

As the scale of the flood increases in the country, Oxfam continues to expand its rapid response in Eastern Sri Lanka, currently providing hygiene kits, tarpaulins, cooked food and bottled water to approximately 17,000 people in Batticaloa, Trincomalee and Ampara districts in the East.

The number of people affected by the flood emergency in Colombia has risen by 50,000 people in the last two weeks, bringing the total number affect to more than 2,100,000 said international agency Oxfam today.

Oxfam is today scaling up its aid effort to reach 200,000 people affected by the severe floods that have hit Colombia in recent weeks. The floods have affected more than two million people in 28 out of 32 districts in the country.

This Pakistan Development Forum meeting was a rare chance for donors to think outside the box for solutions to tackle some fundamental issues thrown up by the floods – one of the most devastating natural disasters this country has ever seen.

International agency Oxfam today called on rich countries and institutions, meeting for the third time in as many months to discuss flood-ravaged Pakistan, to end the talking and start giving the substantial funds needed to help save lives and start to rebuild the country.

Three months after floods devastated Pakistan, cases of disease are increasing and in the worst-hit region, the southern province of Sindh, large areas remain underwater. At the same time, funds for the UN flood appeal are drying up and threatening the aid and reconstruction effort.

International aid agency Oxfam today starts its initial assistance in two worst-affected districts in Ha Tinh province, central Vietnam where torrential rain has brought two consecutive severe floods to one of the poorest and most disaster-prone parts of the country.

 

Consuelo Lopez-Zuriaga, Oxfam Head of Humanitarian Campaigns, said,