Over 50 Somali refugees, including women and children, apparently drowned when their boat capsized in the Gulf of Aden on Sunday, the highest toll in more than three years in the perilous exodus of thousands fleeing fighting in their homeland, the United Nations reported today.
The burden of caring for the world’s 43 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) should be shared by the entire international community and not just the developing countries where 80 per cent of those uprooted from their homes live, the United Nations refugee chief said today.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today paid tribute to United Nations personnel who perished in the devastating earthquake that struck Haiti earlier this month, hailing their courage and dedication in the face of catastrophe.
While United Nations agencies and their partners are providing immediate assistance to the survivors of Haiti’s earthquake, they are also stressing the need to ensure that those dealing with physical and emotional scars from the disaster receive the long-term support they need.
Touching down in the capital of Haiti, which was devastated by this week's catastrophic earthquake, today, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today pledged the United Nations' support for the victims of the disaster.
On the heels of a four-nation trip to see first-hand the damage caused by conflict and natural disasters, the top United Nations humanitarian official today appealed for international support to help these countries recover and rebuild.
United Nations agencies continue to aid scores of thousands of Indonesians after last month’s 7.9-magnitude earthquake ravaged parts of western Sumatra island, leaving nearly 200,000 households in need of emergency shelter and other assistance.
The United Nations and its humanitarian partners today launched a flash appeal for $10 million to provide six months of aid to nearly 180,000 typhoon victims in some of the poorest regions of Laos.
Finding shelter tops the list of priorities for emergency relief agencies scrambling to help hundreds of thousands of people in Indonesia devastated by last month’s powerful earthquake off the coast of the island of Sumatra, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said today.
The official death toll from last month’s earthquake that struck the Indonesian island of Sumatra has climbed to 1,117, including those still missing, the United Nations humanitarian arm reported today as its chief wrapped up a two-day mission to the site of the destruction.
