Colombo: A top UN official on Thursday
traveled to the flood affected areas in Sri Lanka`s north and
east for a first hand assessment of the devastation, as the
world body launched a funding drive for the victims in the
region once the heartland of the LTTE-led civil war.
Catherine Bragg, the visiting UN. Assistant
Secretary-General & Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator,
traveled to flood affected areas in Sri Lanka`s north and east
to assess the situation, officials said.
She is on a three-day official visit to Sri Lanka to
get a first hand assessment of the devastation caused by flood
which destroyed or damaged more than 28,000 houses and
affected more than a million people.
Bragg flew to northern district of Mulathivu, a former
battle zone between the now defeated LTTE and government
forces, to witness the destruction caused by recent floods
which killed at least 43.
She is also scheduled to travel to eastern province,
the worst affected by the floods.
The United Nations has already made an appeal to raise
USD 51 million for immediate relief for flood victims.
"This appeal seeks USD 51 million to enable
international partners to support the government in addressing
the needs of more than one million flood-affected people over
the next six months," the UN said in a statement yesterday.
"The appeal will be revised within the next month to
reflect needs as the situation evolves, and as the results of
in-depth assessments become available," the UN said.
"I hope donors will respond rapidly to help the
survivors of these devastating floods, which have hit many
people who were desperately vulnerable to begin with," the UN
statement quoted Bragg as saying.
"These floods are an enormous and tragic setback for a
community that is slowly rebuilding their lives following the
2004 tsunami and recovering from the decades-long conflict,"
she said.
Bragg also met UN agency and government officials as
well as teams working to clear land mines left from the ethnic
conflict.
PTI
