Up to 1.8 million people have been
affected by floods in parts of Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia.
This region in the Horn of Africa suffers from severe extremes in weather. Earlier this year sever drought has left the land
unable to absorb the water from the unusually heavy rains over the last few weeks.
The UN has stated that these floods could be the worst in the region for 50 years, with the rains potentially
continuing for another month.Difficult areas to access, Concern had existing projects in many of the affected areas and is responding with emergency kits and sandbags to minimise impact of
flooding.
CONCERN'S RESPONSE IN ETHIOPIA Ethiopian government, UN agencies and International NGOs are responding to the emergency in the Somali region.Estimates of people affected are around 360,000, with nearly 100 killed.80 metric tonnes of food and non food items, supplied by International Red Cross have been airlifted to the worst
affected areas.
West Imi district, Afder zone, where Concern is supporting a local partner, Mothers' & Children's Development Organisation, has been badly hit. Concern has distributed 11 metric tonnes of corn soya blend supplementary food, medical supplies and non food items such as tents, plastic sheeting, blankets, water cans, etc.Concern is
also distributing medicines to combat an outbreak of cholera caused by previous flooding. The floods have made existing roads impassable creating difficulties in reaching more remote
villagers.CONCERN'S RESPONSE IN SOMALIA The Shabelle river has burst its banks with the main impact so far in the Middle Shabelle region, with
some houses completely submerged.
A difficult area to get accurate figures, due to poor infrastructure but there are estimates of 74,000 people needing assistance in this area.In
conjunction with respective local authorities and elders, Concern is assisting displaced people in Lower and Middle Shabelle with emergency kits, shelters, sandbags and non food items; kits
containing blankets, mosquito nets, plastic sheeting and cooking utensils to 530 households in Kurtunwaarey, Lower Shabelle. Similar kits have been distributed to 450 households in
7 villages in Jowhar area, Middle Shabelle.In Kurtunwaaray, Lower Shabelle, Concern has also distributed 13,000 sand bags to 13 villages. There is a resistance for families to
leave their houses in some areas so where possible as much as possible needs to done to prevent further damage. UNICEF have also conducted non food, emergency kit distributions in Middle
Shabelle, whilst Save the Children (UK) and UNICEF are covering Hiiraan region. In Mogadishu, there has been fund raising organised by a flood emergency commitee appointed by the UIC, a Local
radio station (HornAfrik) and an Institute known as SIMAD. Business companies, Somali diaspora, ordinary individuals, women groups and students pledged about $300,000 for the flood
victims.
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
