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UN aid chief on far-reaching consequences of Ukrainian dam disaster [1]
['Geoff Bennett', 'Zeba Warsi']
Date: 2023-06-15 18:45:37-04:00
Geoff Bennett:
In Ukraine, floodwaters are receding more than a week after the destruction of a major dam that severely inundated surrounding towns.
But the damage is evolving into a long-term environmental and humanitarian disaster, with far-reaching consequences. Thousands of people have been displaced, hundreds of thousands left without normal access to drinking water, and Ukraine fears losing millions of tons of crops.
Martin Griffiths is the humanitarian affairs chief for the United Nations and joins us now to talk about the relief effort in Ukraine and in other parts of the world.
Thank you for being with us.
The scale of destruction following that dam collapse is enormous, some 700,000 people without access to drinking water. How is your team on the ground addressing the immense challenge of providing humanitarian aid to those affected?
Martin Griffiths, U.N. Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator: Well, right now, we're reaching about 200,000 people. And we do this through a whole series of daily convoys, delivering aid, but also helping evacuation for those that need to leave.
We're very worried about the secondary consequences, which you have been mentioning; 700,000 people have been robbed of safe drinking water as a result of that catastrophe.
[END]
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[1] Url:
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/un-aid-chief-on-far-reaching-consequences-of-ukrainian-dam-disaster
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