The United Nations (UN) has [reported / reporting] that the world is facing its biggest humanitarian crisis since 1945. It has issued a [please / plea] to all nations to help [avoid / evade] "a catastrophe". UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, Stephen O’Brien, warned that more than 20 million people [facing / face] the threat of starvation and famine in Kenya, Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen. He stressed there was an [urgently / urgent] need for, "accelerated [global / globally] efforts to support UN humanitarian action [on / in] the ground". Mr O'Brien told the UN Security Council: "We [stand / kneel] at a critical point [on / in] history. Already at the beginning of the year we are facing the largest humanitarian crisis since the [creator / creation] of the UN."
The UN warned of a [bleak / bleakly] future for millions in the affected African countries and Yemen. It said: "Without [collection / collective] and coordinated global efforts…people [risk / risky] starving [to / by] death and succumbing to disease … [with] stunted children, lost futures, mass displacements and reversed development [gains / against] ." [While / Whichever] the natural El Niño weather phenomenon has brought little or no rain, a lot of the problems [fuel / fuelling] the crisis [are / is] man made. War and conflicts are displacing many in these countries and are [hampering / hankering] efforts to distribute aid. There are reports of aid convoys being attacked. Mr O'Brien said: "It is possible to avert this crisis, to avert these famines, to avert these [blooming / looming] human catastrophes. It is all preventable."
