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
1
12
1
1
Edited News | WMO , UNITED NATIONS
UN chief urges boost to life-saving weather warning systems, stresses role of climate change science
No country is safe from the devastating impacts of extreme weather — and saving lives means making early-warning systems accessible to all, UN chief António Guterres said on Wednesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | WFP
Gazans’ response to food distributions ‘overwhelming’ as humanitarians scale up under fragile ceasefire
In Gaza, the ceasefire is enabling UN humanitarians to reach more desperate people with life-saving food, but greater access is needed to contain the spread of famine.
1
1
1
Edited News | WFP , OCHA
UN urges opening of all Gaza crossings to deliver three-month food supply
The UN World Food Programme (WFP) has warned food aid cannot reach everyone in Gaza unless all border crossings are opened, particularly in the north where famine was declared in August. The agency says it already has enough supplies in place to feed the entire population of the Strip for three months – if full access is granted by Israel.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNDP , UNICEF , OCHA , ICRC
Around $70 billion will be needed to reconstruct Gaza and make it safe after two years of war, UN development experts said on Tuesday, while aid agencies reported that far too little aid continues to reach desperate Palestinians.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
The UN human rights office, OHCHR, on Friday welcomed the Nobel Peace Prize committee’s decision to name Maria Machado as this year’s laureate, in recognition of her work promoting the Venezuelan people’s democratic hopes.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNRWA , UNICEF , WHO
As Gazans jammed the main route leading north on Friday after a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas was announced, UN aid teams repeated their call to open all crossings into the devastated enclave to prevent famine spreading.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , UNICEF , WHO
Two years of Gaza-Israel war bring ‘indescribable’ pain: UN humanitarians
Two years since the Hamas-led terror attacks on Israel, UN humanitarians on Tuesday reiterated calls for the release of all hostages in Gaza, an immediate ceasefire and an aid surge to alleviate Palestinians’ suffering, as talks on a US-driven peace plan continued in Egypt.
1
1
1
Edited News
Syria prison survivor seeks justice for the missing with UN backing.
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk on Friday warned that three and a half years after Russia’s full-scale invasion, the war in Ukraine has entered an even more dangerous and deadly stage for Ukrainian civilians, under relentless bombardment of their schools, hospitals, and shelters.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNICEF , WHO , ICRC
Quadcopter victims, terror and death: 30 minutes in a Gaza hospital
UN aid teams on Friday highlighted the disturbing situation in Gaza’s makeshift hospitals, where premature babies cry for scant oxygen and medics attempt to save child survivors targeted by airstrikes in their tents and quadcopter victims reportedly shot while fetching bread.
2
1
2
Edited News | OHCHR
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk on Thursday delivered his oral update to the UN Human Rights Council’s 60th session on the human rights situation in Haiti.
The High Commissioner welcomed Wednesday’s decision of the UN Security Council to strengthen the Multinational Security Support mission by transitioning to the Gang Suppression Force for Haiti, stating it is a strong signal of international support for the Haitian people.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , UNICEF
Gaza: As world waits for US peace plan news, UN aid teams stress need for ceasefire
UN agencies reiterated calls for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza on Tuesday to help alleviate Palestinian suffering, as a new US 20-point plan raised hopes of a halt to the fighting.