Nueva York, aug.28 (ANDINA).- The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) launched an appeal for close to $37 million, to assist more than 200,000 people needing medical assistance, water, food, tents and blankets after the magnitude 7.9 earthquake that hit Peru on August 15.

After two weeks of meetings with Peru's authorities, the UN decided to request US$37 million to be distributed among earthquake affected people over the next 6 months.

The UN has called a special meeting in Geneva aiming to collect the funds as soon as possible. Within this meeting, countries across the world will determine how much they are willing to donate. It was informed that the US$9.6 million which have already been donated by the Central Emergency Response Fund will be taken from the US$ 37 million.

It has been established that out of the US$27.4 million which are needed; US$592 thousand will cover coordination costs, 2.6 million will afford immediate aid, 4.8 million will be for educational costs, 3.8 million will be assigned to emergency employment and 787 thousand will be used for telecommunication costs.

In addition, US$10 million will be devoted to purchasing food, other one million for health, 790 thousand for child protection, 706 thousand in grants for safety and refugee camps and almost 1.5 million will be spent on water supply.