The United Nations Office for the Coordination
of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says that agricultural materials are urgently
needed to avert food shortages in a flood-stricken province in Congo-Kinshasa.
In its latest situation report on the
Democratic Republic of the Congo, OCHA says that a joint mission which
had gone to assess the damage and needs in the flood-affected Province
Orientale has completed the preparation for its report.
According to the mission, the worst phase of the floods is considered to be over, with the river levels decreasing. However, the mission says that there are still some scattered cases of emergency in several villages along the Congo River between Kisangani and Lukutu and Lowa and Ubundu. A tentative estimate of the affected persons for the entire province is 26,000.
As the floods have destroyed crops and food stocks, the affected population throughout the province is facing a precarious food situation, according to the United Nations mission. It says that assistance in the form of seeds and agricultural tools and equipment are urgently needed for the next planting season to avert a looming threat of food shortages.
OCHA says that it is prepared to serve as a channel for cash contribution to be used during the immediate phase of relief assistance.