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SOMALIA: Rains wash away IDP shelters in Mogadishu
16 Jun 2008 16:18:18 GMT
 Source: IRIN

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NAIROBI, 16 June 2008 (IRIN) - Thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs) camping in and around Mogadishu have been left without shelter after heavy rains pounded the Somali capital over the weekend, officials said.

"We had non-stop rains from Friday to Sunday [13-15 June] night," said Jawhir Ilmi, a coordinator in one of the camps in Arbiska, around 20km south of Mogadishu. "Many of the temporary shelters have been washed away. Now there are people without any shelter or sheltering with other families."

Bolo Mohamed, a 40 year-old mother of four whose family shelter was destroyed, had to move in with relatives. She told IRIN on 16 June she had very little food and had lost what few possessions she had.

"We have nothing," she explained. "Our clothes and bedding are all gone."

Mohamed, who said she last received food rations on 27 March, added: "I am very sick from the cold and the hunger. My children are even worse. I don't know how long we can survive like this."

Amina Adan, another IDP, told IRIN: "We were already desperate and the rains have made our situation worse. We need all the help we can get now."

The rains, Ilmi said, had exacerbated the plight of the IDPs, many of whom had been doing odd jobs such as collecting firewood to supplement whatever they got from aid agencies.

Negative health impact

A doctor with the charity Islamic Relief said the health of the displaced was becoming more precarious. "Heavy rains with wind, poor shelter and lack of adequate food is combining to have a negative impact on their health," Hussein Ali said.

Ali, who runs a clinic in the camps said he had noticed an increase in illnesses and diseases such as "diarrhoea and malaria, and respiratory diseases".

Sanitation had also deteriorated in the IDP camps. "There were too many people using too few latrines and now the rains have destroyed some of the latrines," he told IRIN. ""There is definitely an urgent need for intervention on the sanitation side.

"We have also noticed an increase in malnutrition cases," he added.

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) started feeding displaced people between Mogadishu and Afgoye in April 2007. The last distribution was in April 2008 for 200,000 IDPs, according to Abdi Jama, information officer for WFP Somalia.

"Due to shipment delays WFP was unable to provide rations in May," Jama said. "However, next week 326,000 IDPs, in these areas, will receive 4,882 metric tonnes of food."

ah/am/cb

© IRIN. All rights reserved. More humanitarian news and analysis: http://www.IRINnews.org


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