Panama: UN warns flooding could cause food shortages

(New York: 1 December 2004) - The damage caused by recent flooding in Panama's Darien Province could cause severe food shortages in the next 7 to 8 months, UN humanitarian agencies report.
Assessments carried out by the United Nations Technical Team in Panama show that food stocks, livestock and crops have been lost due to heavy rains that began in Panama's Darien Province last month. In addition, aqueducts and latrines have been damaged and destroyed, jeopardizing the supply of clean water and heightening the potential for disease outbreaks.

Panamanian authorities estimate that more than 7,500 people, mainly in indigenous communities, have been affected by the flooding. Flooding has damaged more than 1,200 housing units, a water plant, six schools and one health clinic. Five temporary shelter sites have been established, housing 250 people apiece.

The UN Team in Panama has already conducted two missions to affected areas. A joint UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and World Health Organization (WHO) mission to Yaviza delivered water purification materials and oral rehydration salts after water-borne diseases were identified as the greatest threat to people living there. A second interagency mission to the town of El Salto, which was completely flooded and whose entire population had relocated to a neighbouring village on higher ground. The mission also helped to bring a government supplied portable water plant and to transport some 18 Ministry of Health

For its part, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has released an emergency cash grant of USD 20,000 from its Norwegian Grant Reserve, for the purchase of emergency relief items. Priority needs include food and clean water, water purification tablets, portable latrines, cooking supplies, and materials for repairing aqueducts.