WFP appealed to international donors for urgent funding to support its operation to provide food assistance for nine months to 80,000 people worst affected by last week’s earthquake in Peru.

WFP’s emergency operation will require a total of US$6.1 million. While about US$2 million of this will come from the UN Central Emergency Response Fund, WFP will be relying on donors for the remainder.

“For us to be successful, we will have to count on the full support of the international community and we appeal to donors to respond as quickly as possible,” said WFP Country Director Guy Gauvreau.

“We are relying on donors’ generosity. This crisis may quickly disappear from the front pages of the newspapers, but the tens of thousands of people affected by this catastrophe will live with the effects for many months to come.”

Airlift

To date, WFP has provided over 500 metric tons of mainly ready-to-eat food to the worst affected, including nine tons of high protein biscuits airlifted from the agency’s sub-regional emergency logistics hub in neighbouring Ecuador.

The aircraft was provided by the Government of Ecuador. WFP’s efforts will focus on preventing the deterioration of the nutritional condition of those affected, particularly children aged six to 24 months, women and other high-risk groups such as the elderly.

Reconstruction

The operation will also support reconstruction efforts through Food-For-Work programmes and help to prevent further deterioration in the livelihoods of affected families, many of whom have lost almost everything.

Gauvreau said that despite earlier scattered scenes of chaos in the worst-affected provinces of Pisco and Ica, the situation appeared to be stabilising.

At the same time, he said road conditions while not perfect, were improving and increasing amounts of supplies were arriving in the quake zone.

Alejandro López-Chicheri

Trevor Rowe
WFP/Latin America and
the Caribbean
Tel. +507 317-3955
Cell. +507 6674-2601

Elio Rujano
WFP/Latin America and
the Caribbean
Tel. +507 3173930
Cell. +507 6617-9261

Monica San Martin
WFP Peru
Tel. +51 1 440 4000
Cell. +511-9762-3150.

Christiane Berthiaume
WFP/Geneva
Tel. +41-22-9178564
Cell. +41-792857304

Cécile Sportis
WFP/Paris
Tel. +33-1-70385330
Cell. +33-6161-68266

Jennifer Parmelee
WFP/Washington
Tel. +1-202-6530010
Ext. 1149
Mob. +1-202-4223383