Ethiopia needs aid
Published:Thursday | October 22, 2009 | 1:07 PM
The Ethiopian government has asked the international community for emergency food aid for 6.2 million people.
The UN\'s World Food Programme says $285 million will be needed in the next six months.
Some aid officials say the numbers of hungry people could rise.
Meanwhile, aid agency Oxfam has called for a new approach to tackling the risk of disaster in the country.
In a report marking 25 years since the famine that killed about one million Ethiopians, Oxfam said that imported food aid saves lives in the short term but did little to help communities withstand the next shock.
The report, named Band Aids and Beyond, called for international donors to focus on preparing communities to prevent and deal with disasters before they strike.