Six months after the Indian Ocean tsunami, WFP is making the transition from relief to longer-term recovery, focusing on how food aid can help communities not just rebuild but "build back better".

Click through our guide to learn what WFP is doing in countries across the affected region to enable long-term development.

From relief to longer-term recovery

We are now making the transition from relief to longer-term recovery across the tsunami zone.

WFP food provides food security, so that communities do not have to worry about their daily sustenance and can focus on rebuilding homes and livelihoods.

TARGETED FOOD AID

We are also moving away from blanket assistance to targeted food aid, including:

• Food for work projects for communities that are rebuilding
• assistance to vulnerable populations such as displaced people
• aid to pregnant women and new mothers and infants
• School feeding programmes to improve the nutrition of children and give them an added reason to go to school

BUILDING BACK BETTER

We are committed to helping communities not just rebuild but "build back better", to improve nutrition, increase school attendance and enable long-term development.

Other priorities during this period are to ensure our assistance is integrated into national recovery plans, and to promote transparency and financial accountability.

HELP AS LONG AS IT'S NEEDED

Our commitment to communities affected by the tsunami does not depend on a timeline; we will help for as long as help is needed.

To this end, we expect to be assisting recovery efforts in the two most-affected countries, Indonesia and Sri Lanka, through 2007.

FOCUS ON MOST VULNERABLE

The focus in both countries will be on the most vulnerable groups: mothers and children, school children, displaced people and those who have lost their livelihoods.

Operations will include school feeding programmes, mother and child health schemes and Food for Work projects.

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Operations overview

Our operations in Thailand and Myanmar have now almost completely wrapped up, while operations in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, the Maldives and Somalia are continuing.

FOOD FOR THOSE WHO NEED IT

As of 9 June, we had dispatched 129,370 metric tons of food to beneficiaries, and had reached a total of 2.24 million people.

Beneficiary numbers peaked in May and have started to fall slightly, while the number of WFP staff working on the operation has also dropped; from 700 at the peak of operation to approximately 400 today.

ASSISTANCE TO 1.8 MILLION

We are currently providing assistance to 1.8 million people across the tsunami zone, including

• 770,000 in Indonesia
• 915,000 in Sri Lanka
• 42,000 in the Maldives
• 28,000 in Somalia
• 26,000 in Thailand
• 15,000 in Myanmar

DEDICATED ASSETS

We currently have
the following assets
dedicated to the
operation:

• three planes
• four helicopters
• four landing craft
• two floating warehouses
• one dedicated ship
• 67 temporary warehouses
• an average 300-350 trucks on the road at any one time

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Indonesia

About 700,000 displaced people and host families in Indonesia receive the basic food ration on a monthly basis. This is still their main source of livelihood and is likely to remain so for some time to come.

Targeted feeding programmes continue to grow across affected areas of Indonesia, including:

• School feeding programmes - we are now reaching over 150,000 children in Aceh and this figure is expected to reach 340,000 by the end of the year
• Maternal health programmes - these are about to begin in Indonesia and are expected to cover 130,000 children under five and 50,000 pregnant women and nursing mothers

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Sri Lanka

WFP's general food distributions will be discontinued in August, giving way to targeted and recovery-oriented approaches.

Targeted feeding has begun and currently reaches 260,000 mothers and children through our Maternal Child Health projects, and 144,000 children through our school feeding programmes.

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The Maldives

WFP will extend its targeted Vulnerable Group feeding programme through December following an official government request, as

• 15,000 displaced people living in camps and families hosting displaced people still require aid until housing is rebuilt
• Fishing and agricultural production is still well below pre-tsunami levels

Beneficiaries will be selected using joint government and WFP criteria, and the aid will be distributed through existing government channels.

This operation requires a limited WFP presence.

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Myanmar

WFP's operations currently focus on Food for work activities in the two areas affected by the tsunami: townships in the Ayeyarwaddy delta area, and Tanintharyi division, near the Thai border.

The operation is limited, covering 15,000 beneficiaries, and focuses on rebuilding projects.

WFP's tsunami relief operation in Myanmar will end on 30 June.

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Thailand

Following consultations with the government, WFP took a limited approach to its assistance to tsunami-affected areas in Thailand's south.

WFP provided a three-month ration of food to 3,000 vulnerable families (15,000 people) in the six provinces hit by the tsunami, a programme that has now wrapped up.

WFP is also providing assistance to over 11,000 school children in the area, through a supplemental school feeding programme that will continue through the school year.

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Somalia

WFP is assisting approximately 28,000 people along Somalia's tsunami-affected coast.

Food aid in this region is targeted towards resumption of livelihoods in the area.

A fifth round of food distributions started in May.

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