Tsunami's silver lining seen for war on malnutrition
Tsunami's silver lining seen for war on malnutrition
Simon Gardner, Reuters, Colombo
Asia's tsunami is likely to have worsened malnutrition around the
Indian Ocean's rim, but a massive drive to feed hundreds of
thousands of survivors may end up reducing it, the United
Nations' food arm says.
The World Food Program is feeding around 1.2 million tsunami-
affected people from Sumatra to Somalia, with the bulk of
recipients in Sri Lanka.
Executive Director James Morris is confident food aid is
reaching most people in need.
"I suspect (malnutrition is) marginally higher, but also there
will be a more intense effort to see that every child is fed, so
it may affect it positively -- there may be some silver lining
here," Morris told Reuters in an interview on Sunday.
"It's a very small silver lining. The problem is enormous, but
we're very focused on seeing that everyone at risk here has a
calorie diet of 2,100 calories per day, and that may be a little
more than some ... have had traditionally in their diet."
The UN agency is feeding around 750,000 people in Sri Lanka,
many of whom lost everything when giant waves battered the
island's southern, eastern and northern seaboard on Dec.26,
killing around 31,000 people.
Hundreds of thousands are depending on food handouts and
children are among the most vulnerable.
"The percentage of malnutrition among children here is very
high -- 35 percent in the general population -- and in places
where the poverty is greater, malnutrition among children goes
up, so it's a considerable problem," Morris said.
The World Food Program's (WFP) food basket includes rice,
wheat flour, pulses, beans, legumes and vegetable oil. The agency
also hands out high-protein biscuits and a high-energy blend of
corn and soya.
Morris is considering adding canned fish to the list, as many
Sri Lankans are wary of eating fresh fish, a staple part of their
diet, for fear they have scavenged on the remains of tsunami
victims.
"There are no examples so far of serious, large numbers of
people being affected by health problems," Morris said.
The World Food Program was already feeding around 1 million
Sri Lankans before the tsunami struck under other projects, so it
had stocks in place and other food was made available on ships
diverted by the United States and Japan.
Morris toured the historic southern city of Galle on Saturday,
which was all but flattened by the tsunami save for a 17th
century Dutch fort, and said he was surprised and encouraged at
the pace of the clean-up operation.
The WFP is feeding between 300,000 to 400,000 people hit by
the tsunami in Indonesia, between 25,000-50,000 people in the
remote Maldives island chain off the toe of India, around 15,000
people in Myanmar and 20,000 people in Somalia.
The tsunami killed more than 163,000 people, the vast majority
of them in Indonesia. Thousands more are missing.