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WFP plans to reach 1 mln people with aid in Madagascar

Xinhua, October 6, 2016 Adjust font size:

The World Food Programme (WFP) said on Wednesday that it plans to reach 1 million people with food and cash assistance in southern Madagascar as the African island country goes through a third consecutive year of drought and ruined harvests.

"The south of Madagascar has been hard hit by this year's El Nino," Farhan Haq, the deputy UN spokesman, said at a daily news briefing here.

"As a result, one household in three in the south of the island has already been forced into desperate measures such as begging, selling its land or house, or migrating," he said.

The WFP requires 92 million U.S. dollars for this humanitarian response from now until March of next year, Haq said, adding that it currently faces a shortfall of 78.5 million dollars.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in July that Southern Africa, where Madagascar is located, is experiencing the worst El Nino-induced drought in 35 years, following the failure of two consecutive rainy seasons, a UN spokesman told reporters here last Friday.

This year's El Nino took place in a world already dramatically affected by climate change.

More extreme weather events are expected in the future, and these hit the poorest communities -- those least responsible for climate change -- first and hardest.

Aid is not enough; a longer term approach is required in order to build the resilience of the most vulnerable. Endit