JUBA, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations has allocated 15 million U.S. dollars for an urgent response to the devastating flooding that has affected more than 700,000 people in South Sudan, an official said Thursday.
Anita Kiki Gbeho, the UN humanitarian coordinator for South Sudan, said 10 million dollars from the UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) will be used to provide critical assistance to those affected by severe flooding across five highly impacted counties in South Sudan.
Gbeho also released an additional five million dollars from the South Sudan Humanitarian Fund to complement the 10 million dollars from CERF, aimed at bolstering critical response pipelines and frontline services. "Floodwaters are already devastating lives and livelihoods across South Sudan," she said in a statement issued in Juba, the capital of South Sudan.
"Homes, crops, and critical infrastructure have been destroyed, leaving communities without access to essential services such as healthcare and education, and displacing people," Gbeho added.
As of Thursday, more than 735,000 people in 38 of South Sudan's 78 counties, including the Abyei Administrative Area, have been affected by the flooding, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
The OCHA said that the CERF funding will enable frontline humanitarian partners to deliver life-saving services in health, shelter, non-food items, and water, sanitation, and hygiene support to vulnerable communities already reeling from the devastating effects of the flooding.
South Sudan is facing unprecedented flooding, with forecasts predicting above-average rainfall, river flows from Uganda, and potentially record-breaking floods.
The joint flood preparedness and response plan, developed by the government, the UN and other partners, aims to assist 2.4 million people. It also identifies 20 high-risk counties across Warrap, Upper Nile, Unity, Jonglei/Greater Pibor Administrative Area, Lakes, Central Equatoria, and Northern Bahr el Ghazal states as priority areas for intervention.
Many of these areas are already grappling with the compounded impact of past floods, ongoing conflict, mass displacement, and acute food insecurity, further exacerbated by the ongoing crisis in neighboring Sudan.
