News releases

ROME – Millions of people in Central America urgently need food assistance in the wake of Hurricane Eta, one of the worst storms in decades, as fears grow of another storm brewing in the coming days.

Dili – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), with support from Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF), has conducted a series of assessment flights on behalf of the Government to determine the extent of agricultural and infrastructural damages caused by Cyclone Seroja that hit the Timor-Leste early April.

DILI – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) welcomes a contribution of US$200,000 from the Government of New Zealand towards its response for families affected by the worst flooding Timor-Leste has seen in decades.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is scaling up emergency food assistance to reach nearly 160,000 people across Sudan following floods that ravaged 17 of the country’s 18 states.

JUBA – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is scaling up support for people impacted by the third consecutive year of record floods that are battering South Sudan. The inundation is threatening to reverse gains made in food security as floodwaters swallow up large swaths of farmland and pastures, destroy crops, and drown precious livestock and entire villages.

BANJUL – The World Food Programme (WFP) started food distributions and cash transfers to support recovery of communities affected by a windstorm and flash floods in July. The support will help families meet their immediate food needs and replenish destroyed or lost food stocks.

BAGHDAD – As an immediate response to the flash floods that hit northern Iraq last week, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and its partner World Vision International (WVI) have provided 235 flood-affected Syrian refugee families in Qushtapa camp in Erbil with emergency ready-to-eat food assistance.

ANTANANARIVO – Tropical Cyclone Emnati that made landfall in Madagascar on Wednesday, the fourth tropical storm in as many weeks to hit one of Africa’s most storm-prone countries, threatens food security and is an example of how weather extremes will trigger runaway humanitarian needs if we do not tackle the climate crisis, warns the United Nations World Food Programme just days ahead of the launch of a report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

BEIRA: The United Nations World Food Programme on Friday declared the Mozambique flood crisis a Level 3 emergency, putting it among a handful of top response priorities for the organisation, on a par with Yemen, Syria and South Sudan.

ROME/BEIRA – The Executive Director of the United Nations World Food Programme, David Beasley, is to travel tomorrow to Mozambique to draw attention to the devastation caused by Cyclone Idai.

HARARE – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) welcomed a €250,000 contribution (US$284,414) from the European Union to help provide urgently-needed logistical support to the humanitarian response in the wake of the cyclone that has devastated eastern Zimbabwe, Malawi and Mozambique.

Lilongwe 27 March 2019 – Following heavy rains and catastrophic floods in the south of Malawi, the UK Department for International Development (DFID) has provided US $4.5 million (£3.4 million) to fund the UNICEF, World Food Programme (WFP) and Red Cross humanitarian response for people displaced by the disaster. This includes funds for food, health, shelter, logistics, water and sanitation.

BEIRA/MAPUTO – At the end of a two-day visit to Mozambique, the Executive Director of the United Nations World Food Programme, David Beasley, today said the international community must step up support to victims of the recent cyclone and flooding that have devastated large areas of the country.

HARARE – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is aware of a news article alleging shortages of Jet A-1 fuel in Zimbabwe that would impact negatively on relief efforts. The information in this article is outdated.

Harare, 3 April, 2019 – The United States Government has provided an additional contribution of US$2.5 million to respond to emergency needs in Zimbabwe following Cyclone Idai. The contribution, provided through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Office of Food for Peace, will support immediate food needs in the most affected areas of Manicaland Province.

Beira/Maputo - The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today welcomed a European Union contribution of €1 million support of the WFP-led global Logistics Cluster’s work on behalf the humanitarian community to bring emergency relief to the people of Mozambique in the aftermath of Cyclone Idai and subsequent flooding.

Harare – Switzerland has allocated an additional CHF1 million (US$1.1 million) in humanitarian assistance following the UN and the Government of Zimbabwe’s Flash Appeal that was launched at the end of February 2019. The funding provided through the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) will be used to address the humanitarian needs necessitated by the recent drought and the rise in food insecurity in the country. The response to the Flash Appeal follows another recent allocation of US$2 million from the Swiss Government in response to Cyclone Idai covering Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Malawi.

BEIRA – One month on since Cyclone Idai struck Mozambique on March 14, the United Nations World Food Programme has reached one million people with food assistance and continues to expand its emergency response while launching recovery and reconstruction interventions.

Lilongwe – The United States Government has contributed US$3 million to for the emergency response to Cyclone Idai in Malawi. The funds, provided by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Office of Food for Peace, will support immediate food needs in the worst-affected areas of the country. They will cover cash-based assistance to flood-affected people as well as early recovery efforts.

LILONGWE – The Government of Japan has provided a contribution of USD 1.25 million to respond to emergency needs in Malawi following Cyclone Idai. The contribution, provided to the World Food Programme, will support immediate food and cash-based transfer to flood-affected population and early recovery efforts, while the contribution to UNICEF will support child protection and menstrual hygiene measures in camps and communities.

HARARE – The Government of Japan contributed US$350,000 to respond to emergency needs in Zimbabwe following Cyclone Idai. The contribution, provided to the World Food Programme, will support immediate food needs in the worst-affected areas of the country.

NDJAMENA – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is stepping up its emergency response to heavy rains and flooding in Chad, with emergency operations targeting 300,000 flood-hit women, men and children over the next three months. According to Chad’s Ministry of Health and Solidarity, 622,000 people have been affected by floods since late August 2022, with hundreds of houses destroyed and massive damage to crops and livelihoods.

ISLAMABAD – WFP continues to expand its emergency operations to assist flood-hit Pakistani families four months since the flooding began in June 2022. WFP is ramping up life-saving food and nutrition assistance, alongside recovery and resilience-building support, and aims to reach 2.7 million people who are facing emergency levels food insecurity (IPC Phase 4) and urgently require humanitarian assistance. WFP is also boosting its logistics support to the Government and humanitarian partners.

DAKAR – Above-average rainfall and devastating flooding across West and Central Africa has affected five million people in 19 countries across the region, claiming hundreds of lives, upending livelihoods, displacing tens of thousands from their homes and decimating over a million hectares of cropland - in a region already in the grips of an unprecedented hunger crisis. This climate-related disaster is one of the deadliest the region has seen in years and is likely to deepen the already worrisome hunger situation for millions.