UN supplies food to Bangladesh's cyclone hit districts

The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) has begun supplying food relief to tens of thousands of people in the cyclone Roanu-affected Bangladesh districts, according to a UN statement on Thursday.

WFP said in the statement that it is mobilizing emergency food assistance for nearly 56,000 people.

WFP in partnership with three local development organizations -- Mukti Foundation, Muslim Aid and Shushilan -- have been supplying food relief to the cyclone victims in southern and southeastern Bangladesh districts, said the statement.

It further said that it has started providing almost 280 tonnes of emergency food to the worst-affected areas in Southeastern Cox's Bazaar district and Southern Bhola, Patuakhali and Barguna.

"Thanks to our longtime field presence in these areas, WFP was able to quickly coordinate with local government and is reaching flood-affected people who may not have had access to much-needed food," WFP Representative Christa Räder was quoted as saying in the statement.

Families will receive a 25 kg ration of rice each as immediate assistance, it said and added many have lost their homes, businesses, crops and livelihoods, and are now vulnerable to deteriorating food insecurity and worsening poverty.

Cyclone Roanu slammed into the Bangladesh coastlines after making landfall in a southernmost coastal district on May 21, leaving at least 20 people dead and hundreds of thousands of people homeless.

According to WFP, more than 1 million people were affected as large areas became inundated. Endit