Marshall Islands – The UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) has allocated USD 1 million to IOM’s drought relief efforts in the Marshall Islands. The funds will be spent on water, food, sanitation, hygiene and logistical projects to help the government respond to the disastrous drought affecting the remote Pacific islands.

The intervention follows earlier funding from the US Agency for International Development (USAID), which allowed relief operations to get under way last month. The new funds will boost an operation that will bring aid to one of remotest inhabited parts of the planet, halfway between Hawaii and Indonesia.

“The humanitarian needs for over six thousand people are acute. We have seen many families whose water storage tanks are empty or near empty. They need potable water and they will soon need food. The drought means staples are in short supply and humanitarian agencies are planning to meet this need in the coming week,” said IOM Chief of Mission Ashley Carl, speaking from the capital Majuro earlier today.

IOM’s relief operation will focus on household distributions to ensure that the most vulnerable get equal access to water and other aid.

Following persistently low rainfall during the dry season, the government declared a state of emergency for the northern atolls of the republic on 19th April 2013. This was followed by the declaration of an elevated state of drought disaster in May, as the situation worsened. A week ago, President Barack Obama signed a disaster declaration under the Compact of Free Association that governs relations between the United States and the Republic of the Marshall Islands.

“The CERF grant is essential to our operations here,” added Carl. “We are establishing an air bridge to get desalination equipment to produce drinking water to the remotest atolls and ensure that they remain operational. We are also getting a sea bridge organized which will bring water, water containers, health and hygiene kits, food and personnel to where they are most needed. Cooperation between the government, local communities and international organizations is excellent,” he noted.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), dry weather will continue for the next few weeks. A few brief trade-wind showers will develop at times. IOM will help the government to implement its “catch every drop” policy to ensure that existing rain harvesting systems catch maximum amounts of water when the drought breaks.

For more information please contact

Ashley Carl
IOM FSM
Email: acarl@iom.int
Tel. +692 456 3080 or +692 247 4705