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| Southeast Asia |
| Laos needs emergency food aid |
| 2011-03-24 |
| [Straits Times] MORE than 111,000 people in impoverished Laos will need emergency food aid before the next harvest, the United Nations ... aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society... World Food Programme said on Wednesday. The WFP said shortages of rice in the communist-run country's south and centre stem from a combination of weather factors last year - dry spells, a late rainy season and flash floods. 'We're now raising funds' to support an emergency rice distribution probably in June or July, filling a gap before the harvest which occurs around November, WFP front man Cornelia Patz told AFP. In the meantime, villagers will have to use stocks from the last harvest or buy rice in the market but prices are now 'very, very high compared to last year", she said. A joint study by the WFP and the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said weather shocks 'impacted already vulnerable households' in areas that had not fully recovered from Tropical Storm Ketsana. Ketsana struck in October 2009 and led to some of the worst flooding in Laotian history. It killed at least 11 people, caused more than US$100 million (S$126.5 million) damage, and prompted a government appeal for international help. |
| Posted by:Fred |