(A) Highlights

(B) Middle East, Central Asia and Eastern Europe: (1) Afghanistan, (2) Russian Federation

(C) East and Central Africa: (1) Burundi, (2) DR Congo, (3) Djibouti, (4) Eritrea, (5) Ethiopia, (6) Kenya, (7) Somalia, (8) Sudan, (9) Tanzania, (10) Uganda

(D) West Africa: (1) Chad, (2) Liberia, (3) Mauritania, (4) Sahel region

(E) Southern Africa: (1) Regional, (2) Lesotho, (3) Malawi, (4) Namibia, (5) Zambia, (6) Zimbabwe

(F) Asia: (1) Bangladesh, (2) DPR Korea, (3) Indonesia

LIMA - Following an intense frost that has wreaked havoc in the highlands of southern Peru, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has approved a new emergency operation to assist 64,000 people at a total cost of US$1.7 million.

Last spring an intense and severe frost struck the high-altitude provinces of Puno and Apurímac in southern Peru, destroying 50 to 80 percent of crops just before the harvest, and 50 percent of the grazing lands used to feed farm animals. As a result, farmers have lost almost all their livestock destined for the market.

FHI's Peru office worked with local churches, businesses and government officials to keep people warm and healthy, despite an unusually cold winter in Lima and Puno.
Towns in Puno Department, in the Andean high plains or "altiplano," suffered through subzero temperatures dropping as low as -25 to -35 C this winter. Children living in towns situated as high as 5,000 metres above sea level were showing worrisome levels of potentially deadly respiratory infections.

Armed with medications and clothing that FHI provided, members from congregations of the Evangelical Church of Peru

ROME - Extreme weather and other natural disasters, from the locust plague in West Africa to freezing weather in Peru, are presenting unique challenges for the United Nations World Food Programme at a moment when it is heavily involved in Darfur and elsewhere.

"Our people on the ground are struggling to combat the effects of these disasters on millions of hungry people," said John M. Powell, Deputy Executive Director of the World Food Programme.

"When you're poor and hungry, losing your home to floods or crops to drought can mean the beginning of the end.

Appeal Target: US$ 123,754

Balance Requested from ACT Alliance: US$ 122,254

Geneva, 17 August 2004

Dear Colleagues,

Amount of Decision: Euro 1,900,000
Decision reference number: ECHO/PER/BUD/2004/01000

Explanatory Memorandum

1 - Rationale, needs and target population.

1.1. - Rationale:

Global Information and Early Warning System (GIEWS) update
A severe cold wave since late June has affected 8 departments in the southern highlands of Peru. The Government has declared a state of emergency in 26 high Andean provinces of the five most affected departments: Arequipa, Cusco, Huancavelica, Moquegua and Puno. The abrupt fall in temperatures, snow storms and frosts have adversely affected some 338 000 local people characterized by high levels of poverty, and has resulted in losses of pastures and livestock. While extreme cold

Intense cold and the heaviest snowfalls in 30 years are killing livestock and crops in the Andes of southern Peru. The loss of cattle and crops threatens the food source for 300,000 families in four provinces. Temperatures have gone as low as -5 Fahrenheit (about -20 Celsius), about 15 degrees below the average lows for this time of year.
The highlands of the Andes are inhabited by mostly poor, indigenous people who live by raising animals and cultivating crops that can grow at this high elevation (in many places over 13,000

With a number of World Vision Area Development Programs (ADPs) affected by cold weather in Peru, World Vision has begun distributing blankets to rural communities in Cusco.
One thousand blankets are being distributed to families from projects in Cusipata, Calca, and Lamay.

The National Meteorology Service (SENAMHI) says the cold winds and snow in the high mountain regions of Peru will persist. In recent days, the worst-affected areas have experienced temperatures as low as minus-9.5=AAC, in Apurimac. The number of respiratory infections