The World Food Programme, the world"s largest food aid agency, asked for 279 million dollars today to cover food rations for 2 million Haitians for six months, according to dpa. WFP"s appeal is separate from the UN office for the coordination of humanitarian emergency in New York, which was seeking 550 million dollars also for quake victims in Haiti. WFP said in the first phase it will provide one-week rations of ready-to-eat food to up to 2 million people, who have lost their homes and therefore kitchens and cooking utensils in the magnitude-7 earthquake that struck Haiti on Tuesday. A general distribution of rice, pulses and cooking oil to the same 2 million people will follow the prepared food rations. Food for work activities such as reconstruction and rehabilitation work will follow the second phase. The agency, which has set up a logistical base in the neighbouring Dominican Republic, said it began on Wednesday food distribution to 3,000 people in Jacmel and 2,900 people in three other sites in Port- au-Prince. The logistical base will be supported by mobile warehouses, trucks, helicopters and coastal vessels. WFP said it has already received more than 55 million dollars from governments, including the United States, Luxembourg, Italy, Greece, Australia, Colombia and the UN central emergency response fund, which disbursed 10 million dollars this week in response to the earthquake. One WFP worker was confirmed killed by the quake in Port-au-Prince on Tuesday. WFP provided food for 1.9 million Haitians before Tuesday"s earthquake.
