Oxfam Warns of Looming Food Crisis

Written by DAP NEWS -- Friday, 16 October 2009

(Posted by CAAI News Media)

A food crisis is looming in flood communities affected by natural disasters in Cambodia, international aid agency Oxfam has warned. Oxfam estimates that 100,000 people are affected by the floods and 15,000 households are in need of immediate food assistance, a press release from Oxfam International said on Thursday.

Oxfam expects the situations to worsen if no coordination and urgent action are taken to deliver food assistance, it added.

Oxfam urged relevant government bodies, UN agencies and other huma- nitarian organizations to find solutions to the food shortages, it said.

Given the serious situation, Oxfam has decided to urgently assemble food supplies for 1,000 families in the three provinces in which it operates. However, Oxfam stressed that this is only a short-term solution for a few of the estimated 15,000 families who are in urgent need of food. “Every community we provided relief items to told us they needed food urgently. Some people skip meals so that their children can have more,” said Francis Perez, Cambodia head of Oxfam International. “All agencies concerned with the current situation must act now to ensure that food quickly reaches those in need.”

Eight provinces in central and northern Cambodia have been affected by flooding. Many of the affected families are forced to borrow rice from each other, but now finding enough food is becoming an ever tougher challenge. In some communities, Oxfam said it has observed an increase in food prices which further weakens the capacities of the most vulnerable. Oxfam have responded to the current emergency in three hard-hit provinces, Kampong Thom, Stueng Treng and Kratie. Oxfam has distributed plastic sheets, water filters, sleeping mats, mosquito nets, Sarongs, kettles, water buckets, and soaps to affected communities in the three provinces.

Oxfam has reached about 75 percent of the intended 5,000 families with its relief items despite difficulties to access many affected regions. It also plans to reach an additional 5,000 families in the recovery phase in the next three to six months to help affected communities restore water and sanitation facilities and ensure food and livelihoods security.

Nhim Vanda, first deputy president for National Disaster Management, said that the Cambodian Government has a strong commitment to restore and develop the typhoon hit regions and help victims find shelter and food.