The United Nations has released 18.7 million U.S. dollars to scale up life-saving assistance to more than half a million people affected by floods in Somalia.

Axar.az reports citing Xinhua.

Adam Abdelmoula, humanitarian coordinator for Somalia, said the funds from the UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) and the Somalia Humanitarian Fund (SHF) will help minimize the impact of these recurrent floods.

"These funds come at a critical time, enabling humanitarian partners to scale up the delivery of life-saving aid to the most vulnerable flood-affected people in need of shelter, clean water, food and health care assistance," Abdelmoula said in a statement issued in Mogadishu.

He said 8 million dollars from CERF will enable UN agencies and their partners to sustain and scale up their ongoing time-critical interventions in the worst-affected areas through the provision of food assistance, deployment of rapid response teams and support for health facilities, provision of non-food items and emergency shelter.

CERF funds will also be used to support the UN Humanitarian Air Service, which helps move essential humanitarian goods and personnel in areas that have been hard to reach due to floods, Abdelmoula said.

"It is crucial that we urgently deliver assistance to the people that have been affected by this crisis, but we also need to look into doing everything we can in the future to minimize the impact of these recurrent floods," he said.