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In regions wracked by violence or submerged by floods, the first emergency is how to deliver enough food as quickly and efficiently as possible. Here are some of the crises counted among WFP's "global hotspots".

• WFP continues to provide food assistance to victims of harsh winter conditions in Farah and Hirat provinces. A total of 60 tons have been dispatched to more than 6,000 beneficiaries in Farah province. Also, food distribution is ongoing to 15,000 affected IDPs in Hirat province.

• Initial reports indicate that, due to tribal tensions, there was a displacement of approximately 400 families from Nuristan province to Nari district of Kunar province during the reporting period.

• WFP and UNHCR have concluded a joint programming plan to support reintegration activities for returnees in Kunar, Laghman and Nangarhar provinces. The plan is designed to support the returnees from Pakistan through FFW and FFT projects in the coming months. Along with WFP food assistance, UNHCR will provide cash and NFIs.

• According to the Government of Bolivia, the continued flooding caused by heavy rains over the past weeks has as of February 5 affected 41,600 families, damaged almost 500 houses and caused 48 casualties.

Based on WFP assessments, the Sectoral Group of Food has identified a total of 27,000 families in need of food in the Departments of Cochabamba, Santa Cruz and Beni. Led by WFP, the group, composed by the Ministries of Agriculture and Defense, NGOs and donors is coordinating the food assistance at a national level. WFP is also replicating this group at the departmental level. Additionally, WFP and FAO have initiated a joint assessment of the impact of floods on agricultural production and food security.

• Most of the affected families are currently being assisted through the ongoing emergency operation that will be adjusted to absorb affected families in new regions. So far WFP has distributed almost 130 mt of food to 520 families in the affected areas.

• The budget of EMOP 10616.0 has been revised to absorb the additional requirements. Approximately US$5.4 million are needed to assist the total caseload of 27,000 affected families for 3 months. WFP has already submitted a US$1 million proposal to CERF. Germany, Canada and Switzerland have expressed their interest to support the food assistance through WFP.

• Rebel groups have withdrawn from N’djamena and the situation appears to be calm. The UN Country Team has approved the return of UN staff to the capital; the return of staff to Abéché is not yet confirmed.

• February food distributions to Sudanese refugees have been completed in all 12 refugee camps in eastern Chad. IDPs in Dar Sila were provided with a month’s food ration at the end of January, which should cover the February food requirements. Expected pipeline breaks due to delays in arrivals from Libya are of concern.

Available stocks are insufficient to cover March distributions. Any delay will also significantly hamper prepositioning for the 2008 rainy season disrupting food assistance for over 500,000 beneficiaries in the east.

• Some 12,000 Sudanese refugees have crossed the border into the east of Chad and are in urgent need of food assistance. The new refugees are currently located in Birak and will be transferred to Guereda camps shortly.

• On February 6 the expected major eruption of the Tungurahua volcano occurred and 3,000 villagers living near its slopes were evacuated. No reports of casualties. WFP Ecuador and UNETE (coordinated by WFP) are in close cooperation with Government authorities in preparation of a coordinated emergency response.

• Ecuador CO actively participates in coordination tasks on request of the Government and is taking the lead role within the UN system. The Country Office is procuring locally more than 10,000 emergency family rations (for two weeks each) under agreement with the Ministry of Agriculture, which are foreseen to be distributed in the area affected by the volcano.

• Simultaneous with the eruption, numerous coastal provinces have been affected by floods due to heavy rainfall. A UNETE assessment team is to monitoring the situation and evaluating the need for complementary action from the side of the UN system.

• The Government’s Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Agency (DPPA) has dispatched 21,200 mt of WFP food aid to the five priority zones in the Somali region under military operations, of which over 14,000 mt has arrived at destination.

Approximately 73 percent (10,112 mt) of the delivered food has been distributed to beneficiaries. WFP monitoring teams have visited 87 out of 186 FDPs (47 percent). Monitoring missions were suspended this week due to exchange of artillery near Degehabur and Kebridehar.

• Targeted Supplementary Food (TSF) distributions resumed in 13 woredas in Somali region, assisting 48,000 malnourished pregnant/lactating women and children under five. Due to the current nutritional status in the region, arrangements are being made to resume food distributions for another 270,000 women and children in the remaining 17 woredas, which are mainly in the five priority zones.

• Approximately 138 mt of food was allocated to 88,000 people in Borena Zone in response to the drought. Assistance through the safety net programme is provided to the remaining drought-affected, food-insecure population in the zone.

• This year’s Crop and Food Supply Assessment Mission, implemented in 3 phases, is near its completion. Phase 1 (crop assessment) and Phase II (Meher assessment) have been completed. The draft report of Phase III (synthesis of findings) is being finalized.

• The Government of Kenya, Kenya Red Cross (KRC) and WFP continued to provide food assistance to people displaced/affected by post-election crisis. Thus far, 1,772 mt of WFP food has been distributed to 372,000 people displaced in Rift Valley and western Kenya as well as the most vulnerable people in the slums of Nairobi and Kisumu.

• The number of IDPs in Naivasha has been decreasing due to fears of attacks in the camps. KRC, WFP and other partners are setting up transition shelters in Kisumu to offer essential services - including a one-week food ration - to displaced people on the way to their ancestral homelands.

• WFP is supplying micronutrient-rich corn-soya blend for supplementary feeding of moderately malnourished children under five, as well as pregnant and lactating women.

• The disrupted commercial supply chain has resulted in shortages and an increase in prices of fuel and staple food. WFP-contracted transporters have also requested an increase in transport rates.

• In January 2008 Israel escalated its blockade of Gaza, leading to severe power cuts, disruption of water supplies and sewage treatment, and a suspension of commercial imports. This has in turn led to severe food shortages and price increases.

• WFP CO is meeting with Israeli authorities to find a workable solution for the delivery of humanitarian food supplies into Gaza, which is hampered by new security measures.

As a result of additional security procedures being imposed at border crossings, since 17 January, only 20 WFP trucks have been able to deliver food supplies. The new procedures have drastically slowed WFP's ability to deliver supplies, resulting in a loss of 2 percent of cargo and additional logistics costs. WFP has been forced to suspend deliveries until a solution - promised within the next few days - can be found.

• Egyptian authorities have closed the Gaza/Egypt border, and are now urging the few remaining Palestinians at the border to return to Gaza.

• WFP has stopped distributions to 2,501 social hardship beneficiaries due to lack of wheat flour. In some parts of Gaza City and Northern Gaza social hardship case families are currently receiving a partial ration due to shortage of sugar and salt.

• Findings of the post Deyr (short rains) assessment led by the Food Security Analysis Unit (FSAU) report that between 1.8 and 2 million people, including over 700,000 newly displaced persons, are in dire need of humanitarian assistance for at least the next six months. The most affected areas are in the Shabelles and Central regions due to significant numbers of IDPs from Mogadishu and failed Deyr rains.

• To ensure adequate response to the increasing food aid needs in south and central Somalia, WFP has begun to expand its operation in the south, including setting up two new field offices in Merka and Buale and recruiting additional staff.

• Following reports of renewed fighting in Sirba, Seleia and Abu Suroug, West Darfur, up to 16,000 villagers from the locality are reported to have fled to nearby villages and many into Chad.

A joint UNAMID/UN mission visiting the region on 11 February found that approximately 5,000 people in Sirba are in urgent need of food, shelter, medical support and other non-food items. The number of people requiring assistance in Abu Suroug is still being assessed. As a precautionary measure, WFP will be providing one-month food ration to cover the needs of 10,000 people. Initial distribution in both Sirba and Abu Suroug is expected to take place on 12 February.

• Elsewhere, in Kabkabiya, North Darfur, a WFP light vehicle with driver was carjacked last week by armed bandits. The driver has been released but the vehicle is yet to be recovered, bringing the total number of WFP light vehicles stolen in 2008 to three, and with a further four taken in 2007. WFP commercial trucks have been the main target of recent banditry in the Darfur region, with 26 contract trucks and 14 drivers still missing. This has raised concerns that key contractors may be less willing to use certain routes to deliver food.

• An inter-agency assessment to a locality in Northern Bahr El Ghazal State, Southern Sudan, estimated that 9,000 returning IDPs are in need of emergency assistance after being displaced during localised fighting between the SPLA and alleged Miseriya nomads in late-December 2007. WFP is assisting with food rations.

• Vulnerable Group Feeding (VGF) verifications remain ongoing. As for distributions, overall challenges continue to be fuel accessibility, secondary transport availability and general problems related to a highly inflationary environment.

• Logistics has pre-positioned over 50 percent of the required 43,000 mt of food for February distributions, which have started this week; 100% should be pre-positioned by end of next week.

• Early indications point to yet another disappointing agricultural season; So far it has been characterised by incessant rains, which have adversely affected both farm operations and crop conditions. The situation has been exacerbated by a general shortage of both basal and top dressing fertilizers and seeds.

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