Thursday, October 18, 2007

SOME UGANDA FLOOD VICTIMS CUT OFF !

Sarah Grainger BBC News, Kampala

Some 150,000 are yet to receive food or medical assistance. Aid agencies in Uganda are struggling to reach tens of thousands of people in the east and north of the country, two months after rains inundated the area.
Around 300,000 people lost their homes or crops after Uganda's heaviest rainfall in a generation.
The United Nations says some may not get help before December.
The UN World Food Programme's country director, Tesema Negash, told the BBC a conscious effort had been made to reach those most severely affected.
Nevertheless, almost 150,000 people had still received no food or medical assistance following the floods.
The WFP is using two helicopters and an aeroplane to drop food to communities cut off by flooding.
Mr Negash said access had improved in the last week and the agency was now able to distribute more food by road, but it might still take another month before some people received help.
The government has sent engineers to reopen flooded roads and rebuild bridges that have been washed away.
The UN launched an appeal last month for $43m (£21m) to assist flood victims in the first six months.
They have so far received around a third of that amount but have warned that more assistance will be needed to deal with the long-term effects of the flooding.
Of particular concern is the potential for the spread of diseases as the flood waters recede. Many of those who have lost homes or property were until recently living in camps for the internally displaced.
They had fled fighting in northern Uganda between the Lord's Resistance Army rebels and the Ugandan army but had begun to move back to their villages as peace talks had brought greater security to the area.
The effect of the floods has been particularly devastating for them.
BBC NEWS REPORT.

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