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Positive response for drought relief
request
[August
26, 2004
- 10.00 GMT]
Representatives of Foreign Missions and International Donor Agencies met at
the President’s Office in Colombo on Tuesday 24th August in
response to President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s appeal for urgent assistance
for victims of the ongoing drought in the country,
The
Secretary to the President, W. J. S. Karunaratne briefed the donor agencies
on the extent of the damage and the Government’s efforts to ease the
problems of nearly 700,000 drought-hit families in 16 Districts, which is
about 16% of the total population.
The
World Food Programme (WFP) handed over the first stock of the 1,750 Metric
tonnes of wheat flour it had
pledged,
to the
Secretary to the President and the officials of the Human Disaster
Management Council
at the meeting.
Ministers Maithripala Sirisena and Milroy Fernando, whose constituencies of
Polonnaruwa and Puttalam are two of the sixteen drought-affected Districts,
were also present at the discussion chaired by the
Relief, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Acting Minister Nimal Siripala de
Silva.
UN
Agencies Combined Response: Drought 2004
|
Agency |
Focus areas and amount of funds |
Details of Response |
|
WFP
-FAO |
Anuradhapura,
Kurunegala, Puttalam, (major focus)
Monaragala
and Hambantota
USD
1.1million
(total) including USD 800,000 (emergency)
under discussion
USD
300,000 (in addition to above) |
*Based
on the WFP-FAO CFSAM report, FAO is seeking donor assistance for a joint
FAO-WFP response comprising of three main activities benefiting affected
population:
*
Coordinated provision of seeds and fertilizers to provide immediate
emergency assistance to most affected and vulnerable farmers with the
supply of basic agricultural inputs for the Maha season 2004
* Capacity
building of local communities in establishing and managing revolving
seed schemes and seed security stocks to improve “seed security” in
drought-prone areas
*
Community-based pilot projects in selected drought-prone areas for the
promotion of improved watershed and water resources management.
*In
addition, WFP will reallocate emergency food assistance of 1000 tons
(based on request of Ministry of RRR), to be distributed to affected
families in a targeted manner as Food For Work programmes by NDMC and
Dept. of Social Services |
| UNDP
-UNICEF |
Monaragala
and Hambantota
USD
61,500 +
USD
20,000 +
USD 30,000
(delivered already)
USD
100,000 |
* UNDP under its Transition
Programme (South) will assist in small-scale water management
(rehabilitation/supply) projects at the grassroots level in Monaragala
and Hambantota.
* UNDP
has already supported with 400 water tanks worth USD 30,000. In
addition, USD 20,000 also to be used for activities (to be decided).
* UNDP
Small Grants Programme will also contribute to watershed management
(amount and location to be decided)
* UNICEF will support
in rehabilitation of water sources in addition to supporting provision
of water to affected families in the two districts |
|
WHO |
Polonnarauwa (currently) and other
districts |
* Keeping in
view immediate preventive measures, the following initiatives have been
undertaken by WHO:
*
Technical support to develop a contingency
plan to deal with outbreak of diseases and establish a community based
system of nutritional surveillance.
*
Arrangements to procure 10,000 of Chlorine
tablets for the district for purification of water at household level.
*
In close consultation with the Health
education Bureau of the Government, necessary arrangements to procure
relevant health promotion materials to intensify the promotional
activities at the community level.
*
Assessment from the local market about
availability of reagents for the available chloroscopes to strengthen
the capability of the DPDHS to increase water-testing facilities in the
field
* Depending on
situation, WHO is keeping ready emergency health kits to provide
emergency care to 10,000 populations |
Broadly, WFP-FAO will cover the areas of Anuradhapura, Kurunegala, Puttalam
while UNDP-UNICEF would cover Monaragala and Hambantota
Indicative contribution by the UN Agencies for the
immediate drought situation is USD 1, 611, 500
Related story:
GOSL appeals for drought assistance
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Last Updated
Date: August 26, 2004 -
10.00
GMT. |
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