BENIN/FLOODS

UN activates humanitarian response as floods hit Benin

Geneva, 10 July – (ANA) - Following the heavy floods that have struck
Benin, United Nations humanitarian agencies operating in the West
African country are conducting rapid assessments to determine how they
can best assist the thousands of people caught up in the situation.

The floods are thought to have displaced or otherwise affected over
20,000 people, with the hardest hit regions being the area around
Cotonou, the commercial capital, and the entire southern coastline.

Emergency staff has been deployed in the country to ensure that
priority needs in health, shelter and water and sanitation are being
met, according to the UN office for the Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs (OCHA).

Among the Organisations taking part in preliminary assessments to
ascertain the most immediate needs of the population are the World
Health Organization (WHO), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO),
the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the UN Children’s
Fund (UNICEF).

Flooding besets Benin at this time almost every year due to the annual
rainy season. But this year’s inundations have been so severe that the
Government has imposed a state of emergency. (ANA)

SL/ANA/10 July 2009 ---