IOM will build shelters for more than 1,100 families left homeless
by recent floods in the Department of Chocó, located in
Colombia's Pacific coastal region.

With USD 460,000 from the UN's Central Emergency Response Fund
(CERF), IOM will build some 1,100 shelters and distribute non-food
items, including kitchen sets, stoves, hammocks, mattresses, and
blankets to 5,500 persons that were severely affected by the rains
and floods.

The heavy rains and floods affected one million persons and
destroyed 44,000 hectares of crops.  In Chocó, more
than 150,000 persons have been affected by the heavy rains, which
continue to fall.

"The shelters IOM plans to build will be raised, or tambos, in
order to protect the families from rising water levels.  The
families whose homes were flooded will live in the IOM-built
shelters until the rainy season is over," explains José
Angel Oropeza, IOM Chief of Mission in Colombia.

IOM is part of the newly-created UNETE Plan (Unite) which
includes UN agencies, international NGOs and Colombia's Disaster
Prevention and Relief Agency (DPAD by its Spanish
acronym). 

An IOM team travelled with other UNETE partners to the affected
areas to assess the needs and determine the types of structures
needed in the area.

For more information contact:

Jorge Andres Gallo

IOM Bogota

Tel: 57.311 5619495 or 57.1.5946410 ext.142

E-mail: "mailto:jgallo@oim.org.co">jgallo@oim.org.co