U.N.: $38 Mn Needed to Help Victims of Nigeria Floods

About $38 million dollars (30 million euros) is needed to help over two million people made homeless by deadly floods that have ravaged Nigeria since July, the U.N. humanitarian agency said Friday.

"The humanitarian community in Nigeria has presented a response plan for $38 million to respond to the humanitarian needs after the severe flooding in Nigeria in recent weeks," OCHA spokesman Jens Laerke told reporters in Geneva.

Nigeria estimates that the now slowly receding floods have killed 363 people and affected another 7.7 million, 2.1 million of whom have been displaced from their homes.

"There is severe or very severe food insecurity in many places," Laerke said, adding there was also a "high risk of epidemics" because of a lack of access to clean water and adequate sanitation.

The U.N. children's agency UNICEF also said the spread of water borne and water-related diseases like diarrhoea and malaria was a top concern.

Two thirds of Nigerians displaced by the floods were getting drinking water from ponds, streams or unprotected wells, while almost 70 percent were forced to defecate in the open, UNICEF spokeswoman Marixie Mercado told reporters.

UNICEF said it had already reached 258,000 displaced people in 17 camps with emergency supplies.