Geneva, October 21 (QNA) - The United Nations has warned that the current El Nino phenomenon could reach unprecedented intensity, triggering widespread climate disruptions, including droughts, floods and heatwaves, and increasing hunger risks for 50 million people.

Speaking at a joint press conference in Geneva on Wednesday, World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Secretary-General Celeste Saulo and UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Tom Fletcher called for urgent, proactive measures to protect vulnerable communities.

They said El Nino could peak toward the end of 2026, with its effects potentially continuing for an extended period.

Fletcher said the UN had allocated more than USD 50 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund to support 11 at-risk countries, including Chad, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Somalia and South Sudan. He stressed the importance of delivering aid before disasters strike and supporting farmers and herders to protect their livelihoods.

The WMO warned that El Nino's impacts would vary across regions, bringing heavy rainfall and flooding in some areas while increasing drought, water shortages and agricultural losses in others, potentially worsening humanitarian and economic crises, displacement and conflict. (QNA)