UN not planning to launch global Sidr appeal: official

New York, Dec 1 (bdprem.com) – The UN has said it has no plan for making a global appeal alone to the international community for the Sidr survivors, rather it wants to coordinate with the government. Stefany Bunker, an official with the UN Office for the Coordination of the Humanitarian Assistance (OCHA), told bdnews24.com in an interview that the agency's immediate plan was to work in coordination with the Bangladesh government, as the government was now working to float a "response plan". Your Ad Here "The immediate plan for us is to work in coordination with the Bangladesh government's response plan, which is going to be launched very soon. We are not working separately but we have some idea," Bunker said. "The Bangladesh government will come up with the whole assessment. As a part of the response plan we will support the government," the official said. She said the Bangladesh government was capable enough to deal with the relief activities. The UN, however, would continue to lobby with various organisations supporting Bangladesh for "bigger and more response" from them, she added. She said some $130 million had already been recommended for only the UN part although there had not been a complete picture of the total losses yet. The spokeswoman praised the government for its prompt warning and evacuation across the vast southern coast before the cyclone struck on Nov 15. "Look, how well the government managed evacuating the people. They have really done a good job," Bunker said. She referred to an initial UN assessment that more than 4.7 million people had been affected by the cyclone while 2.6 million of them desperately needed immediate assistance for sanitation, water and food. But, she said, it was now revealed that some 8.4 million people had been affected by the cyclone as the Bangladesh government was gathering more information about the extent of the devastation. Bunker said the agriculture sector needed to be seriously addressed.