UNITED NATIONS, May 10 (UPI) -- A six-member U.N. team is headed to Suriname to assess how the tens of thousands of people in rain-flooded areas have been affected.
The United Nations' Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs also said Wednesday a cash grant is being sent to the South American country.
Some 37,000 people living on river banks and on islands in the remote lowlands have fled to higher ground, but 22,000 of them are homeless, OCHA said.
The U.N. agency has given a preliminary cash grant of $30,000 and the U.N. Development Program has provided $80,000 to the U.N. country team for immediate needs.
The U.N. Disaster Assessment and Coordination team being sent will carry out a rapid evaluation of priority needs. It also supports the national authorities and the U.N. resident coordinator in organizing the receipt and distribution of international relief in an affected country.
Heavy rainfall started May 1, raising levels of the Upper Suriname and other rivers, inundating 9,600 to 11,500 square miles of the country's nearly 63,000 square miles. The Government of Suriname declared disaster areas, provided emergency funds and appealed to all national, regional and international institutions to help, OCHA said.
With buildings, roads, ports, airstrips, telecommunication networks and the electricity grid damaged, OCHA said preliminary indications are that food, water, sanitation, emergency shelter, transport and telecommunications, as well as expertise, are urgently needed.
