UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) -- UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher has allocated 5 million U.S. dollars from the UN Central Emergency Response Fund to support the earthquake relief in Colombia.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Thursday that the United Nations and its partners continue to coordinate closely with Colombia's national authorities to scale up relief efforts.
The UN Humanitarian Country Team, at the request of the Colombian government, is supporting the response by providing food, hygiene kits, blankets, tarpaulins and other items, as well as medical assistance for the five departments impacted most severely by the earthquake, said OCHA.
Teams are being deployed to assess needs in most affected areas, in coordination with local authorities. An inter-agency mission is taking place on Thursday in San Jose del Palmar, one of the most affected areas in the department of Choco, it said.
Partners have also started distributing hygiene items and food in shelters, as well as deploying technical and medical support, said the office.
In a flash update, OCHA said the emergency continues to escalate and has exceeded the local response capacity. Humanitarian needs are multisectoral, and significant response gaps remain. Damage to homes, educational institutions, health facilities, water supply systems and roads is limiting access for thousands of people to basic services, protection, health care, safe water and livelihoods.
