Flood victims waiting for aid

UN officials said yesterday they had enough relief supplies to help the victims of flooding in Madagascar but were having trouble…

UN officials said yesterday they had enough relief supplies to help the victims of flooding in Madagascar but were having trouble getting them to villages most in need.

Although helicopters and small planes have been dropping supplies into towns around the country, moving them to scattered villages has been difficult because many roads are blocked by landslides or high water.

More than 20,000 people saw their homes destroyed and 150 people were killed when Cyclones Eline and Gloria ripped through the island, but the crisis there has been overshadowed by flooding in nearby Mozambique.

"It is now a question of distribution rather than the amount of aid that is coming," said Mr Edward Carwardine of the UN children's agency, UNICEF. "There is a bit of a logjam. The supplies are getting to the landing zones and are being offloaded. The problem is getting them to villages that are isolated," he said.