UN Plans Emergency Aid Appeal for Flood-hit Sri Lanka

Aid agencies are ramping up humanitarian efforts to assist more than 1 million Sri Lankans reeling from massive flooding in the Asian country.

The United Nations will launch an emergency aid appeal for Sri Lanka in the coming weeks, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Jan. 13. The World Health Organization, the World Food Program and UNICEF are providing urgent food supplies and health services to the flood victims.

Aid group Oxfam is also distributing hygiene kits, tarpaulins, cooked food and bottled water in Batticaloa, Trincomalee and Ampara districts.

The flooding has displaced 325,350 people, according to the Sri Lankan Disaster Management Center.