The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
STORYLINE
Ukraine: Around 700,000 people affected by fast depletion of Kakhovka Reservoir after dam's destruction
UN humanitarians have continued to respond to serious food and water shortages in Ukraine following the Kakhovka dam disaster, delivering relief supplies on Friday to vulnerable families in the rural Kherson Region, close to the front line.
Hundreds of thousands of people have been affected by the destruction of the dam on 6 June 2023 which has impacted water supplies, sanitation and sewage systems, in addition to health services.
As part of the aid effort, the UN Children’s Fund and the UN World Food Programme (WFP) transported live-saving water and food to families by boat, only 15 kilometres from the contact line.
“We are using today four boats to deliver assistance to these 500 families, a small community that is here close by where I am now”, said Saviano Abreu, head of communications for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Ukraine. “These communities, they already have been facing the consequences of the war. This area was before under Russian control. Late last year around November, it was retaken by Ukraine and now, they are now facing this new catastrophe with the flooding here.”
The emptying of Kakhovka Reservoir has left tens of thousands of people in southern Ukraine without access to piped water, mainly in Dnipropetrovska oblast.
The reservoir – one of the largest in Europe and a source of drinking water to hundreds of thousands of people – is reportedly 70 per cent empty, according to Ukrainian authorities. The width of the reservoir has also decreased from three kilometres to one, while the water level is now at around seven meters, which is below the 12-metre operational threshold, OCHA reported.
“Our calculation is that 200,000 people in the Dnipro region, for example, they have already been cut off from the water from their houses,” said Mr. Abreu. “But a number of families, of people, that could face this kind of this same situation goes up to more than 700,000 people because these are the people that the reservoir would be the source of drinking water around southern Ukraine, not only here in the Kherson region.”
Large urban areas in Dnipropetrovska oblast, including Pokrovska, Nikopolska and Marhanetska, are completely cut off from centralized water and others like Apostolivska and Zelenodolska have extremely limited access. This has left over 210,000 people in this area alone in urgent need of life-saving water, according to estimates from the United Nations and its humanitarian partners.
The receding floodwater has also created other deadly challenges in the form of landmines that have been scattered far and wide.
“This area, I think it is one of the most mine contaminated parts of the world,” said Mr Saviano. “We already know that, and here in the southern part of the country it is one of the main issues. It is the reason, why for example, agriculture in Kherson, in Mykolaiv, Zaporizhzhia have been impacted because of the mine contamination, so the floodwater is moving the mines, that is a reality.”
Abigail Hartley, Chief of Policy, Advocacy and Donor Relations section from the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) added that “when the water subsides the mines are there. (The) good thing is that mines float, so they do stay on the surface. But, of course, there's a lot of other flood debris and they can get buried in sediment. So, it is a challenge as the already awful situation there. But the Ukrainian state services have done a good job of de-mining so far in Ukraine.”
Since the destruction of Kakhovka dam, OCHA and its humanitarian partners have continued life-saving operations and delivered at least 10 inter-agency convoys with vital items to thousands of people affected by the disaster.
-ends-
Please note that corresponding b-roll was made available by OCHA!!
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1g8lrbYeQ7TQ7EKbUfD-64IuDGmUGPVqC?usp=drive_link
SHOTLIST
- Medium shot, UN Palais with flags
- Wide shot, spokesperson in press briefing room
- SOUNDBITE (English), Saviano Abreu, OCHA Head of Communications in Ukraine : “We are using today four boats to deliver assistance to these 500 families, a small community that is here close by where I am now. These communities, they already have been facing the consequences of the war. This area was before under Russian control. Late last year around November, it was retaken by Ukraine and now, they are now facing this new catastrophe with the flooding here.”
- Medium shot, journalists in the briefing room
- SOUNDBITE (English), Saviano Abreu, OCHA Head of Communications in Ukraine : “Our calculation is that 200,000 people in the Dnipro region, for example, they have already been cut off from the water from their houses. But a number of families, of people, that could face this kind of this same situation goes up to more than 700,000 people because these are the people that the reservoir would be the source of drinking water around southern Ukraine, not only here in the Kherson region.”
- Medium shot, spokesperson at podium with screen in the background
- SOUNDBITE (English), Saviano Abreu, OCHA Head of Communications in Ukraine : “This area, I think it is one of the most of the mine contaminated parts of the world. We already know that, and here in the southern part of the country it is one of the main issues. It is the reason, why for example, agriculture in Kherson, in Mykolaiv, Zaporizhzhia have been impacted because of the mine contamination, so the floodwater is moving the mines, that is a reality.”
- Medium shot, journalist with speakers at the podium
- SOUNDBITE (English), Abigail Hartley, Chief of Policy, Advocacy, Donor Relations and Outreach section from the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS): “When the water subside the mines are there. Good thing is that mines float, so they do stay on the surface. But of course there's a lot of other flood debris and they can get buried in sediment. So it is a challenge as the already awful situation there. But the Ukrainian state services have done a good job of de-mining so far in the Ukraine.”
- Wide shot, speakers at podium with camera
- Medium shot, handy typing
- Wide shot, press briefing room
Similar Stories
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
No evacuation order given before Kamal Adwan Hospital strike, says WHO
One of the last partially functional health centres in northern Gaza was reportedly hit again overnight into Friday by several strikes, leaving four health workers among the casualties and the dead, according to the UN World Health Organization (WHO).
2
1
2
Edited News , Press Conferences | OCHA
More than 280,000 people have been uprooted in northwest Syria in a matter of days following the sudden and massive offensive into Government-controlled areas led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which is sanctioned by the Security Council as a terrorist group.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk has called on the Georgian authorities to respect and protect the rights to freedoms of expression and peaceful assembly following several nights of protests that were marred by violence, and dispersed using disproportionate, and in some cases unnecessary, force by the police in the capital, Tbilisi.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said today he was extremely concerned about the recent escalation in hostilities in northwest Syria, which further compounds the suffering endured by millions of civilians.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , WHO , OCHA
Syria escalation: Civilians face deadly attacks, health care in distress and aid access compromised
The ongoing escalation of violence in northwest Syria linked to the wider conflict in Gaza and Lebanon has left civilians dead and injured, hospitals “overwhelmed” and attacks on healthcare on the rise, the UN warned on Tuesday.
2
1
4
Press Conferences , Edited News | OCHA
Multiple unending conflicts, climate change and a glaring disregard for long-established international humanitarian law are set to leave a staggering 305 million people in need of lifesaving assistance next year, the UN’s top aid official warned on Wednesday.
Embargo Wednesday, 4 December 2024 at 0600 CET / 0000 ET
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
The UN Rights Office on Friday warned about the plight of civilians in Ukraine after further attacks on the country’s energy infrastructure.
1
1
1
Edited News | ITU
An international panel has been set up to protect undersea communications cables that are crucial for international trade and security, the UN International Telecommunication Union (ITU) said on Friday. The creation of the International Advisory Body for Submarine Cable Resilience comes amid an ongoing investigation into the severing of two fibre optic cables in the Baltic Sea, in less than 24 hours between 17 and 18 November.
2
1
2
Press Conferences , Edited News | ITU
An estimated 5.5 billion people have access to the internet in 2024, an increase of 227 million people based on revised estimates for 2023, the UN specialized agency for telecommunications, ITU, said on Wednesday.
2
1
2
Press Conferences , Edited News | UNAIDS
Launch of World AIDS Day Report 2024—Take The Rights Path
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
A joint report issued this morning by the UN Human Rights Office and the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) paints a disturbing picture of the media landscape in the country since the Taliban takeover. UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk says.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
UN human rights chief Volker Türk lent his weight to growing ceasefire calls in Lebanon on Tuesday, amid reports that the senior Israeli cabinet members were due to meet on a deal to end more than a year of conflict with Hezbollah militants, sparked by the war in Gaza