Some 60 million people worldwide need assistance due to havoc wreaked by the El Nino climate phenomenon, but a shortage of funding could threaten the delivery of life-saving aid, the UN warned Tuesday. "The numbers are truly alarming," UN humanitarian chief Stephen O'Brien told reporters in Geneva. The El Nino effect, which comes with warming sea surface temperatures in the equatorial Pacific, causes heavy rains in some parts of the world and drought elsewhere.
The 2015-2016 El Nino was one of the most powerful on record, and has caused significant damage across 13 countries across Africa, Asia, Central and South America and the Pacific, sending malnutrition levels spiralling and leading to greater spread of diseases. In addition to the some 60 million people directly affected by El Nino, "there will be millions more who are at risk," O'Brien said, following a meeting in Geneva with representatives of affected countries and aid organisations.
Floods and failed rains caused by El Nino have sparked a dramatic rise in the number of people going hungry in large parts of Africa, with some 32 million people in the southern part of the continent alone in need of some form of assistance. Ethiopia, which is experiencing its worst drought in half a century, is considered "ground zero" in the crisis, with some 10 million people in need of aid, Care International Secretary General Wolfgang Jamann said.
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