WFP raises concerns about food provisioning

LAHORE: The UN’s World Food Programme has raised serious concerns about the provision of food in the flood-affected areas.

A report compiled by IRIN, the UN information unit, quoted Frances Kennedy, a WFP spokesperson as saying, “We are worried about the nutritional situation in the flood-hit areas.” He told IRIN that about 2.8 million people had so far been reached but it was not a significant number considering the extent of the destruction. He said that the relief camps were already over-crowded and people were forced to sleep on roadsides. The WFP had been supplying dry ration comprising wheat flour fortified with vitamins and minerals, cooking oil and high-energy biscuits, to affected families.

Marcus Prior, another WFP spokesperson, said that distributing dry food items allowed them to reach more people in an efficient manner.

These distributions, he said, were at different points – both in camps and other locations identified through WFP’s assessments. Maurizio Giuliano, a spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), stated that currently about 4.8 million people were without shelter. He added that the number was expected to go up following the latest developments in Sindh. Ramzan Muhammad, 40, who is residing at a camp in DG Khan with his wife and three children, said that compared to the initial days the food supply had improved. He said they had gotten two servings of rice, vegetable, cooked chicken and packed-milk in the last 24-hours. Salim Faisel, 56, who is staying in Multan at a cousin’s house, reported that during the last 24-hours they had received cooked lentil and okra with rotis, pakoras (fried chick-pea dumplings) and yoghurt.“We fled our village near Muzaffargarh three weeks ago. The situation was terrible at the camps so we moved in with my cousin.” PPI

Published in The Express Tribune, September 3^rd, 2010.