Saturday, July 16 2005 11:17 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Geneva: The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) is seeking funds to help millions of flood victims in central India, around half of whom are young people, UNICEF said yesterday (July 15, 2005)

Spokesman Damien Personnaz said UNICEF was seeking 2.78 million dollars, in addition to 200,000 dollars it had already disbursed for the flood victims.

He said the money was being sought to help provide drinking water, medicines and food for women and children, and to reopen schools, mostly in Madhya Pradesh, where the flooding has killed at least 62 people.

UNICEF said that, over 7.7 million people had been affected by the current flooding, of whom almost half are aged under 18.