inondations

International agency Oxfam today said that the disaster in Sri Lanka was deepening as a result of a second wave of flooding in the country. One million people in Sri Lanka have already been affected by the first wave of flooding.

The monsoon floods that began in Pakistan in July 2010 caused a colossal disaster, affecting between 18 - 20 million people.

The crisis in Pakistan is far from over and could get worse, international aid agency Oxfam warned today, six months after the nation’s devastating floods.

International agency Oxfam today urged donors to contribute generously to the aid efforts in Sri Lanka. The UN Flash Appeal, to be officially launched later today, will support the Government’s response to the massive floods that have affected the eastern and central parts of the country.

Many people are returning to their homes in flood-hit Sri Lanka but the humanitarian challenge has only just begun. Oxfam will be scaling up its response to the disaster in the next few days to reach 120,000 people in the Eastern and North Central Provinces.

As the scale of the flood increases in the country, Oxfam continues to expand its rapid response in Eastern Sri Lanka, currently providing hygiene kits, tarpaulins, cooked food and bottled water to approximately 17,000 people in Batticaloa, Trincomalee and Ampara districts in the East.

The number of people affected by the flood emergency in Colombia has risen by 50,000 people in the last two weeks, bringing the total number affect to more than 2,100,000 said international agency Oxfam today.

Oxfam is today scaling up its aid effort to reach 200,000 people affected by the severe floods that have hit Colombia in recent weeks. The floods have affected more than two million people in 28 out of 32 districts in the country.

Negotiators should begin UN climate talks with far more urgency and resolve following a year of weather-related disasters, record temperatures, flooding and rising sea levels.

Three months after floods devastated Pakistan, cases of disease are increasing and in the worst-hit region, the southern province of Sindh, large areas remain underwater. At the same time, funds for the UN flood appeal are drying up and threatening the aid and reconstruction effort.