WFP Operational Update

Main Category: Public Health
Article Date: 03 Jan 2005 - 10:00 PDT

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INDONESIA

-- WFP has begun distributing food aid in Aceh province, among the hardest hit areas in Asia. Over the last two days, WFP has given through its NGO partners some 50 tons of rice and eight tons of biscuits and noodles to hungry victims of the tsunamis.

-- While food is arriving in large quantities in Aceh, including 245 tons of rice dispatched today from the neighbouring city of Medan, aid agencies face considerable logistical challenges in delivering food, particularly to the coastal villages. Today, representatives of the UN, the Indonesian army and the donor community met to agree on coordination of air operations and logistical solutions.

-- WFP is taking extra measures to step up the rate of food distributions in westernmost Aceh province, In order to bolster fuel supplies for its NGO partners in Aceh, WFP is sending empty drums by road from the neighbouring city of Medan, with the drivers instructed to fill them with fuel along the way.

-- Tomorrow, an Ilyushin WFP aircraft is scheduled to transport emergency operational support equipment along with off-road vehicles to Medan in order to build up the delivery capacity outside the provincial capital of Banda Aceh.

SRI LANKA

-- An Ilyushin WFP aircraft carrying logistical equipment, off-road vehicles and motorcycles, arrived in Colombo today as WFP steps up its food distribution.

-- WFP has to date dispatched food to 210,000 people; in the latest shipment, 30 trucks left today carrying some 320 tons of various foods to 43,000 people ? enough to last them 15 days.

-- WFP welcomed a donation of 2,400 tons of rice from the Japanese government, which agreed to WFP's request that the food be channeled from the agency's regular activities in Sri Lanka to the emergency.

THE MALDIVES

-- WFP staff participating in a government field mission to assess damages in the north and northwest part of the archipelago reported today that an estimated 17,000 displaced people would need food aid for six months, with up to 60,000 others requiring food for shorter periods of time. Because most of the population derives their livelihood from fishing, the extensive damage to boats will reduce their income for several weeks or even months.

-- Three flights are scheduled to arrive in the Maldives this week delivering 100 tons of fortified biscuits and 15 tons of bleaching powder destined for the World Health Organization.

MYANMAR

-- A WFP assessment mission of disaster-hit areas in Irrawaddy Division on the west coast of Myanmar concluded that only two of 26 townships suffered serious damages. A total of 29 people died in the tsunamis, 2,818 people were displaced and an estimated 1,600 homes were damaged to some degree. An estimated 10,000 people need immediate food aid.

-- The biggest problem is the lack of safe drinking water, as this commodity has historically been in short supply in this region. Now the few water tanks used to collect rainwater have been destroyed and villagers cannot afford to buy drinking water.

-- Essential household items like blankets, clothing and cooking pots are in very short supply.

For more information please contact:

Caroline Hurford, WFP Rome Mob: +39 348 132 5018, email: caroline.hurford@wfp.org

Heather Hill, WFP Thailand Mob: +66 1701 9208, Mobile + 662 659 8690 email: heather.hill@wfp.org

Michael Huggins, WFP Indonesia Mob: +62 811 864383, Thuraya: +881 6315 53604; email: Jakarta.guest5@wfp.org

Jonathan Dumont, WFP Sri Lanka Mob: +39 340 224 9140; Thuraya: +882 165 4203516. email: jonathan.dumont@wfp.org

Trevor Rowe, WFP New York. Mob: +1 646 8241112, office: +1 212 963 5196 email: rowe@un.org

Gregory Barrow, WFP/London, Tel. +44-20-75929292, Mob. +44-7968-008474

Christiane Berthiaume, WFP/Geneva, Tel. +41-22-9178564, Mob. +41-79-2857304

Bettina Luescher, WFP/Berlin, Tel +49-30-2061490, Mob. +49-170-9039479