UN agency’s food convoys arrive in Namibia to aid flood victims

Trucks from the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) carrying 127 tons of urgently needed food arrived today in northeast Namibia, where thousands of people have fled their homes after being hit by the worst flooding in decades.

“WFP’s emergency assistance will contribute substantially to the efforts of the Government of Namibia in alleviating the desperate plight of those affected by the flooding in the Caprivi region,” WFP Country Director for Namibia Francisco Roque Castro said, referring to the food dispatched from the agency’s warehouse in southern Angola following a request from the Namibian Government.

The food will assist 12,000 people in 22 villages who suffered the flooding after a period of prolonged torrential rainfall in the neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) burst the banks of the Zambezi River downstream in the northeastern part of Namibia.

Spanning more than 40 square kilometers, the floods destroyed large tracts of farmland and drowned many cattle, further undermining the Caprivi’s fragile food security situation following a long severe drought in the region.

The WFP supplies to the flood victims – which include maize, corn-soya-blend, vegetable oil and salt – are expected to last for about three months and will augment the Government rations.

WFP said its staff in Namibia is undertaking a rapid assessment mission in the region and will discuss with the regional authorities and committees on the implementation of food assistance to the flood affected people.