UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- In the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), neighboring Tanzania, and Somalia, UN teams are currently battling the devastating consequences of deadly floods and the ensuing diseases, a UN spokesman said on Tuesday.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported a dire situation in the DRC, where nearly half of the country's 26 provinces are affected, leaving over 400,000 households in need of urgent aid, Stephane Dujarric, chief spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said in a routine noon briefing.
The United Nations and humanitarian partners are working closely with the Congolese authorities to develop an emergency response plan and mitigate a public health crisis, said Dujarric.
Humanitarian organizations are providing emergency health assistance to the injured and implementing measures to prevent the risk of disease outbreaks, said the spokesman.
Similarly, Somalia is dealing with more than 470 Cholera cases, including at least nine deaths, while Tanzania contends with flooding that has injured 140 individuals, impacting over 9,000 people and displacing 760.
In Somalia, the OCHA warned that cholera and acute watery diarrhea are spreading.
United Nations and its partners are scaling up the response in flood-affected districts, said the OCHA, adding that the world body is also preparing for further flooding expected during the April-to-June rainy season.
However, it noted that underfunding for the humanitarian response is a critical concern. Last year's appeal for 2.6 billion U.S. dollars to help 7.6 million people in Somalia was less than 44 percent funded, with 1.1 billion dollars received.
In Tanzania, said Dujarric, the UN team assisted the government in response to recent devastating floods.
The spokesman said that the World Food Programme distributes food rations, the World Health Organization focuses on disease prevention and the UN Children's Fund provides water and sanitation services, hygiene kits, water tanks, and more. ■
