Humanitarian agencies request US$10 million for storm disaster in Lao People's Democratic Republic

(Geneva/New York, 21 October 2009): Humanitarian agencies in partnership with the Government of Lao People's Democratic Republic (PDR) today issued a Flash Appeal for US$10 million to provide humanitarian assistance over the next six months to 178,000 people affected by Typhoon Ketsana.

Typhoon Ketsana crossed into Lao PDR from Vietnam on 29 September, weakening from a typhoon to a tropical depression as it made landfall before moving into Cambodia. It caused devastation as it passed through Lao PDR's remote southern provinces of Attapeu, Sekong, Saravan, Savannakhet, and Champassack, which include some of the poorest districts in the country.

According to the Government, a total of 482 villages throughout the five provinces were affected by the subsequent floods and landslides. Due to damage to the infrastructure, there was limited access to the majority of the flood-affected population living in mountainous and remote areas, which were completely cut off.

The storm also struck at a time when household food stocks were at their lowest levels, and farmers were preparing for the upcoming harvest, exacerbating food insecurity by destroying stocks and damaging crops.

Government agencies, with support from humanitarian organisations, launched extensive search and rescue operations and released emergency relief stocks. The Government also released more than $1.3 million for emergency relief, but the extent of the damage requires additional resources to alleviate the suffering of those affected.

Initial assessments by humanitarian agencies have identified the most immediate needs in the five affected provinces as food, drinking water, health, sanitation, shelter and road clearance for access.

The Flash Appeal will be revised once results from detailed assessments become available. Typhoons also wreaked havoc in the Philippines. The international humanitarian community on 6 October requested more than $74 million to help the Government of the Philippines provide immediate assistance to more than one million of the people most affected by the storms. Some $19 million or 27 percent of the requested amount has been pledged or contributed as of 19 October.

For further information, please call: OCHA-New York: Stephanie Bunker, +1 917 367 5126, mobile +1 347 244 2106, bunker@un.org; Nicholas Reader +1 212 963 4961, mobile +1 646 752 3117, reader@un.org; John Nyaga,+ 1 917 367 9262, mobile +1 917 318 8917, nyagaj@un.org; OCHA-Geneva: Elisabeth Byrs,+41 22 917 2653, mobile, +41 79 473 4570, byrs@un.org. OCHA press releases are available at http://ochaonline.un.org or www.reliefweb.int.