NEARLY 1.5 MILLION NEPALESE HIT BY FLOODS AND RISING FOOD PRICES RECEIVE UN AID

NEARLY 1.5 MILLION NEPALESE HIT BY FLOODS AND RISING FOOD PRICES RECEIVE UN AID
New York, Dec 3 2008 5:10PM
The United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) has allocated about $3 million to aid nearly 1.5 million people in rural Nepal suffering from rapidly increasing food and fuel prices, the destruction of food stocks and crops by recent floods, and the effects of long-term conflict.

People in remote regions of the Himalayan country, which is emerging from years of civil war, need urgent assistance to meet basic food needs and levels of acute malnutrition are extremely high, especially among poor, landless and marginalized populations.

The funding will ensure that vulnerable families continue to receive critical aid from the UN World Food Programme (<"http://www.wfp.org/english/?n=31">WFP) and partners as well as creating quick-impact opportunities to help restore family livelihoods through community construction and infrastructure projects.

The CERF was established in 2006 with a goal of reaching $500 million annually to provide rapid relief for sudden-onset emergencies such as floods and earthquake disasters and for longer-running under-funded crises.
Dec 3 2008 5:10PM
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