With most tsunami survivors no longer facing the threat of starvation, the World Food Program will shift its focus from emergency food distribution to helping people rebuild their communities, a top official at the United Nations agency said Wednesday. The WFP will distribute food to villagers in exchange for labor to rebuild housing, schools and other basic infrastructure, John Powell, WFP's deputy executive director, said at a news conference. The organization will also provide meals to children to encourage them to return to school. "We are increasingly seeking to use food to enable families to rebuild homes and infrastructure", he said, adding that "getting children back to school is enormously powerful in our rehabilitation effort". He said WFP will continue distributing food to communities that remain badly damaged by the tsunami, such as those in which rice paddies were rendered unusable after soaking up sea water. The WFP has been leading an effort to feed as many as 2 million survivors in countries devastated by the Dec. 26 tsunami, in which 143,877 to 178,081 people have been confirmed dead.
