PANAMA: UN WARNS FLOODING COULD CAUSE FOOD SHORTAGES

 

NEW YORK, 1 December (OCHA) -- The damage caused by recent flooding in Panama’s DarienProvince could cause severe food shortages in the next seven to eight months, United Nations humanitarian agencies report.

Assessments carried out by the United Nations Technical Team in Panama show that food stocks, livestock and crops have been lost due to heavy rains that began in Darien last month.  In addition, aqueducts and latrines have been damaged and destroyed, jeopardizing the supply of clean water and heightening the potential for disease outbreaks.

Panamanian authorities estimate that more than 7,500 people, mainly in indigenous communities, have been affected by the flooding, which has damaged more than 1,200 housing units, a water plant, six schools and one health clinic.  Five temporary shelter sites have been established, housing 250 people apiece.

The United Nations Team in Panama has already conducted two missions to affected areas.  A joint United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and World Health Organization (WHO) mission to Yaviza delivered water purification materials and oral rehydration salts after water-borne diseases were identified as the greatest threat to people living there.  A second inter-agency mission went to the town of El Salto, which was completely flooded and whose entire population had relocated to a neighbouring village on higher ground.  The mission also helped to bring a government-supplied portable water plant and to transport some 18 Ministry of Health personnel.

For its part, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has released an emergency cash grant of $20,000 from its Norwegian Grant Reserve for the purchase of emergency relief items.  Priority needs include food and clean water, water purification tablets, portable latrines, cooking supplies, and materials for repairing aqueducts.

For further information, please call:  Stephanie Bunker, OCHA New York, tel.:  917 367 5126, mobile:  917 892 1679 or Elizabeth Byrs, OCHA Geneva, tel.:  41 22 917 2653, mobile:  41(0) 79 472 4570.

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