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Shelter for flood-battered Colombians to be built with emergency funding, UN says

Shelter for flood-battered Colombians to be built with emergency funding, UN says

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More than a thousand families left homeless by recent flooding in Colombia will be sheltered through a grant of $460,000 from the United Nations emergency relief fund, the UN Office the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said today.

More than a thousand families left homeless by recent flooding in Colombia will be sheltered through a grant of $460,000 from the United Nations emergency relief fund, the UN Office the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said today.

With help from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), the International Organization for Migration (IOM) will build shelters for more than 1,100 families left homeless in Colombia's Pacific coastal region.

The money will also help provide kitchen sets, stoves, hammocks, mattresses, blankets, and other items for people in the Chocó region, where more than 150,000 people were affected by the inundations, OCHA said.

The country’s harshest, most destructive rainy season on record has wreaked havoc on the Sucre, Bolivar and Chocó provinces, affecting one million people and destroying 44,000 hectares of crops.

CERF, which now holds some $450 million in reserves, was created by the General Assembly in 2006 to allow the world body quick access to life-saving funds in sudden crises.