Meron Aberra,
Oxfam’s media and communication officer in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, reports on a recent trip to South Omo to witness the damage caused by recent unseasonal flooding.This is the third
year in a row that the people from South Omo in Ethiopia have been affected by flooding. Though it is common
mostly around August and September, it happened this time later in November following unseasonal rain, with terrible effects. An initial assessment revealed that around 2,500 hectares of sorghum, 1750
hectors of maize and 105 hector of soya bean have been totally destroyed by the flood. Oxfam, on a recent visit, saw that thousands of women, men and children have been forced from their
homes by the devastating effects of the flood or stranded by water, the level which is increasing every day. More importantly, our team has also been informed that most people have run out of their
food stock and are desperately in need of assistance. Most of the flood-affected families have now settled temporarily in a locality called Toltale, surviving in shelters made out of leaves and grass
collected from surrounding areas, with no food and basic services such as latrines or access to clean water.During our visit, we met Yayeneabeba Abera, one of those affected by the floods, who
has been assigned as health extension worker. She helped our team bridge the language gap and translate what the flood victims were trying to communicate. With a deep sigh of frustration, they told us
they are helplessly dying of hunger.They tried to explain that this is the most challenging experience of their lives, because the flood occurred at the time when their food storage facilities
are completely empty and they are waiting to collect the new harvest. They are now forced to survive eating only ‘bode’ - a kind of local fruit that they collect from the river.
One sack of bode needs to be collected to feed a family of ten just for a meal. It is a complementary rather than a basic food item for the local people, and is normally to be eaten along with meat
and dairy products such as milk and butter.However, though in response to early warnings most people were able to transfer their cattle to safe locations, the outbreak of PPR [a disease
affecting cattle] has been reported to have wiped out a significant number of cattle. As a consequence, the people have been surviving eating bode only once a day for quite some time. Apart from the
fact that the process of preparing bode (right from its collection) is very tiresome and has overburdened the more vulnerable such as women, children and the elderly, Yayaneabeba indicated that many
have suffered from acute diarrhoea as a result of eating bode alone. More from the
Oxfam Press Office at http://www.oxfam.org.uk/news
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
Rescuers inspect damages due to a landslide in Kuala Lumpur December 6, 2008. A landslide occurred early Saturday in a housing estate in Kuala Lumpur and police confirmed three people killed, ...
