UN aids flood victims on opposite sides of world, in Philippines and Panama

United Nations emergency teams moved in to alleviate flooding on opposite sides of the world today, setting up an ad-hoc crisis management task force in the Philippines and delivering water purification materials and helping to transport health personnel in Panama.

In the Philippines, where floodwaters have left many roads impassable and washed away bridges and houses, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) have pledged emergency funds and the UN Development Programme (UNDP) has requested a further grant of $100,000.

Many people have been stranded on rooftops and OCHA reported that rubber boats, tents, food and drinking water were urgently needed.

In Panama, OCHA reported that flooding in the Darien region - where more than 7,500 people, mainly in indigenous communities, are estimated to have been affected - could lead to severe food shortages in the next seven to eight months. The UN team in the country has already conducted two missions to affected areas.

A joint UNICEF and UN 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 team helped bring in a government-supplied portable water plant and transport 18 Health Ministry personnel to El Salto, which is completely flooded. Its population has relocated to a neighbouring village on higher ground.

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.