Millions of flood-hit still struggle for food

Source: Dawn

Date: January 27, 2011

ISLAMABAD, Jan 26: Six months after devastating floods hit Pakistan, millions of people are still in dire need of essential items and the crisis, which is far from over, could get worse, an Oxfam report says.

The report, `Six months into the floods`, said that although the aid effort had reached millions, it had struggled to match the immense scale of human need.

"Six months on millions of people are still facing flood water, shivering in temporary shelters and struggling to find food," the report said.

Oxfam said it was currently helping nearly 1.9 million people, "one of our biggest programmes worldwide â€" but this is dwarfed by the number of people who are in need," said Neva Khan, the head of Oxfam in Pakistan.

The aid community has done a tremendous job but given the scale of this disaster relief agencies have only scratched the surface of human need, it said.

Oxfam said although Pakistan`s floods were the biggest emergency of recent times with more than 18 million people affected, the funding for the response had been woefully slow.

The UN appeal for $2 billion to rebuild Pakistan remains only 56 per cent funded.

Link: http://www.dawn.com/2011/01/27/millions-of-flood-hit-still-struggle-for-food.html