UN Agency Lacks Funds
for Central America and
Caribbean
United Nations -
Insufficient
contributions from donor
countries have hindered
providing appropriate
assistance to the
victims of natural
disasters in Central
America and the
Caribbean, according to
the UN Office for the
Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
In a report issued here,
OCHA pointed out that
the organization is
going through a serious
deficit of funds to
address emergencies
caused by hurricanes and
tropical storms in
Honduras, Guatemala, El
Salvador, Costa Rica and
Haiti.
According to the UN
agency, the organization
has barely received 10
percent of $17 million
it requested to assist
more than 320,000
victims of recent floods
in Honduras.
The heavy rains and
winds caused by tropical
storm Paloma also
affected 180,000 people
in Guatemala, but OCHA
has just received 33
percent of the funds
needed for aid
operations, the
organization said.
The United Nations
Children's Fund
(UNICEF), for its part,
is concerned because it
has barely received 10
percent of donations
required to finance
emergency operations in
Haiti.
In that regard, UNICEF
repeated its call to the
international community
in a communique, and
noted that the people
affected in Haiti,
especially women and
children, need urgent
aid, which they are not
receiving. |
