Preliminary results of a joint UN survey carried out by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the World Food Programme (WFP), the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) found that 1.6 million people – or 34 per cent of households – were food insecure in 2012.

This represents a “dramatic” rise from 27 per cent in 2011, stated a joint news release from WFP and UNRWA.

Contributing factors include high unemployment rates, stagnant economic growth, the financial problems of the Palestinian Authority, the continued Israeli occupation of the West Bank and the six-year blockade of Gaza.

WFP Executive Director Ertharin Cousin and UNRWA Commissioner-General Filippo Grandi today visited a Bedouin village between Jerusalem and Jericho where a food distribution carried out jointly by the two agencies was taking place.

“High food prices and low wages mean that 1.6 million Palestinians don’t know from where their next meal is coming,” said Ms. Cousin. “Yet food security is security. Food security is a vital component for sustained peace across the region.”

Ms. Cousin also welcomed a new agreement with UNRWA that will strengthen cooperation in Palestine and throughout the region and address the urgent needs of the population.

In nearby Jericho, she met shoppers using electronic vouchers from WFP to buy olive oil, salt and other groceries, most of which are produced locally in Palestine. In the past three years, WFP has injected more than $100 million into the Palestinian economy through local purchase and the redemption of electronic food vouchers. This investment supports local businesses and generates employment.

WFP reaches approximately 650,000 food-insecure, non-refugee households in Palestine. Meanwhile, UNRWA provides food assistance to more than one million food-insecure Palestine refugees across the Middle East.

During the visit to the village of Khan al Ahmar, the two officials signed a Memorandum of Understanding, in an agreement which will deepen and expand ties between their agencies.

“As well as cooperating more in the fields of food security and nutrition, we can share expertise in logistics, supply chain management and other initiatives, not just in Palestine, but regionally, particularly as we face up to the challenge of the Syria crisis,” said Mr. Grandi.

The head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs’ (OCHA) operation in Haiti, Johan Peleman, said that relief workers are still consolidating data of the destruction caused by the storm and a full picture of the situation will take some time.

Meanwhile, he noted, between 15,000 and 20,000 people have seen their houses completely destroyed, damaged or flooded as a result of the storm.

OCHA is particularly concerned because Haiti had been hit by a long period of drought this year as well as by another hurricane, Isaac, which hit the impoverished country in August.

“Now with this new tropical storm, we fear that a great deal of the harvest which was ongoing in the south of the country may have been destroyed completely,” Mr. Peleman said in an interview with UN Radio.

“Already, the drought and the previous storm had hit the northern part of the country very badly and we had seen the levels of food insecurity rise there,” he added. “With the south being hit now, we are going to face in the next couple of months very serious problems of malnutrition and food insecurity.”

There are approximately 1.2 million people who are facing food insecurity in the country, which is already the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere and is still recovering from a devastating earthquake in January 2010.

Mr. Peleman noted that there are still 350,000 people living in camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs) as a result of the earthquake and the effect of Hurricane Sandy on this group was a major concern.

“The most vulnerable IDPs that were living in camps have been evacuated before the storm and we are now, with the humanitarian community and the UN family, repairing tents, handing out new tarpaulins so that they can go back to live in more favourable conditions because a lot of light structures were obviously completely destroyed by the storm,” he stated.

Access is also a concern since a number of roads have been rendered unusable due to the hurricane, making it more difficult to reach those in need, Mr. Peleman added. In addition, water holes and sanitation systems will need to be drained as quickly as possible, given the fear of an outbreak of water-borne diseases, specifically cholera. The disease is still endemic in the country and he expected to now see a surge in the cases of cholera. Preparations were taken ahead of Hurricane Sandy, in partnership with the Haitian authorities and with the support of the UN peacekeeping mission in the country (MINUSTAH), Mr. Peleman noted, including contingency planning and the pre-deployment of food stocks, tents, tarpaulins, medical kits and hygiene kits.

“The country is relatively well prepared but it is also very vulnerable to this type of disaster, not just because of the poverty but because of decades of deforestation and erosion,” he noted.

In addition, MINUSTAH is also supporting Government efforts to deal with the hurricane’s aftermath, responding to requests to help with logistics and engineering, such as the clearing of roads.

Hurricane Sandy also caused deaths, damage and destruction along the east coast of the US, including in New York where the UN is headquartered. The world body’s offices were closed for an unprecedented three days straight, with most meetings cancelled, and re-opened yesterday.

The number of people facing food insecurity in southern African countries has increased dramatically, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Currently over 8 million people in nine countries in the region are vulnerable to food insecurity.

Lesotho has experienced a more than 70 per cent drop in domestic agricultural production, owing to a series of flooding, late rains and early frost, the Office stated. This year’s crop failures follow poor harvests last year, which has increased the vulnerability of many of the country’s poorest farmers.

After declaring an emergency food crisis in August, the Government of Lesotho earlier this month launched an appeal for $170 million to support the most vulnerable for the period from September 2012 to June 2013.

“It is very important that the international community does not forget what is happening in a country like Lesotho,” said Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Valerie Amos.

“This can be devastating for a small country and the way that we are trying to work going forward, which is to support communities, households and governments to really build resilience, this is what we also have to do for the longer term,” Amos added.

Priority sectors for intervention in the appeal launched today in Geneva include food security, health and nutrition, protection and coordination.

Last month the UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) approved a $6.2 million grant to support programmes carried out in the country by UN agencies, including the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP).