Sri Lanka

UN relief officials are continuing to assist authorities in the conflict-wracked north of Sri Lanka respond to flooding that has displaced more than 70,000 people and affected 300,000 others. A UN inter-agency assessment of civilian needs in Northern province’s Jaffna district – the district hardest hit by the floods – has been carried out, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported Dec. 2. In Jaffna alone, about 62,000 people have been forced to flee their homes because of the floods, which followed days of heavy rains, and are now living in nearly 250 separate camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs). (UN News Service)