The current El Niño, which began in early 2015, has at least matched the strongest on record, affecting the food security of a vast number of vulnerable people around the globe. The current El Niño is comparable to that of 1997/98, which killed some 23,000 people, displaced hundreds of thousands, and resulted in some $45 billion in damages. WFP could be stretched operationally and financially during 2016 as the impact of El Niño translates into increased food-assistance needs across most areas of operations. This highlights the necessity of increased investment in disaster-risk reduction, early warning, climate-change adaptation and resilience building. WFP is responding with such measures as: prepositioning stocks of food, for example in cyclone-prone Madagascar and in Haiti, where earthquakes and drought wreak havoc; planning water deliveries in Lesotho where shortages are being felt; distributing high-energy biscuits as emergency food to flood victims in Somalia.
