Following Nepal’s earthquake today, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports that, according to Government estimates, 24 people have been killed and 543 have been injured. The Flash Appeal launched after the 25 April quake is seriously underfunded and needs are likely to increase.
In progress at UNHQ
Noon Briefings
Calling the situation in the Mediterranean a “security crisis” for hundreds of thousands of refugees and migrants, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for International Migration briefed the Security Council on recent developments. He said an effective strategy to address the crisis, including in the context of a Council resolution, would begin with the immediate need to save lives.
The Secretary-General is today in Ukraine, where he met with President Petro Poroshenko and participated in a commemoration of the end of the Second World War. Speaking to reporters, he said Ukraine contributed and sacrificed immensely to the fight against Nazism.
At the initiative of Poland’s President, the Secretary-General, in Gdansk today, took part in a trilateral meeting with the President of Ukraine, during which he encouraged the parties to the continuing conflict in Ukraine to swiftly and fully carry out the Package of Measures for the Implementation of the Minsk agreements.
The Special Envoy for Yemen is meeting in Paris with Government leaders and the Secretary General of the Gulf Cooperative Council. He meets with Saudi leadership and other Yemeni officials in Riyad tomorrow, amid reports of intensified violence in several districts.
The Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Syria said the first of a series of low-key Geneva-based meetings involving more than 40 Syrian groups, the Government and 20 regional and international actors begins today for an initial five to six weeks. Despite challenges, said the Envoy, we do not have the luxury not to try.
The Secretary-General travels to Moscow for Victory Day on 9 May, where he will meet with President Vladimir Putin. He stops on 7 May in Gdansk, Poland, for the commemoration of the seventieth anniversary of the end of the Second World War. On 8 May, he meets with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in Kyiv.
The Secretary-General calls on all parties in Yemen to ensure that humanitarian agencies and their partners have safe and reliable access to bring aid workers and supplies into the country and to deliver aid to millions of people in need.
Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Valerie Amos arrived in Kathmandu, Nepal’s capital, today to meet with Government officials, community leaders and families affected by the earthquake there. Her office reports that the death toll now stands at nearly 5,600.
The Secretary-General condemned the shelling and aerial bombardment of the Yarmouk refugee camp in Damascus despite assurances from the Syrian Government that the camp would not be attacked while civilians remained inside. He also called on the Government to immediately end any military operation endangering civilian lives in the camp.