18 March 2008
The Mozambican Government has asked the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) to provide emergency assistance for one month to 60,000 people in the north of the country who are still suffering from the impact made by Cyclone Jokwe earlier this month.
WFP will start distributing food assistance to cyclone-affected communities early next week, drawing on existing stocks that had been earmarked for other operations, the agency said in a press release issued yesterday in Maputo, the Mozambican capital. About $550,000 is now needed to quickly replenish those stocks.
Along with national authorities, other UN agencies and aid organizations, WFP is conducting a rapid-needs assessment in the province of Nampula, the area hit hardest by the cyclone. At least eight people were killed as a result of Jokwe, which struck the Mozambican coast on 8 March with winds of up to 200 kilometres per hour, leaving tens of thousands of people homeless.
Numerous power lines were also knocked down, cutting off electricity and water supplies to several towns and villages, while heavy rains led to some flooding.
Both WFP and the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) have already mobilized staff to the affected areas in northern and central Mozambique.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 UN News Service. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
