 | |
Thousands of displaced Somalis fleeing drought and famine are now dealing with heavy rain and flooding which have left their make shift tents demolished.
Old women and children reportedly struggled to repair their huts as rain descended heavily on the camp in Mogadishu on Sunday. Following seasons without rain that destroyed livestock and killed crops, the internally displaced Somalis raised concerns over current harsh weather conditions which have left them scrambling for new shelters. “We do not have any plastic sheeting to shelter us from the rain. We are suffering from hunger, disease and now rain,” Reuters quoted Abdi Moallim as saying. “We ask the world to help us in getting better settlements to be safe from cold and rains,” AP quoted Mumino Jimale as saying. Over 11 million people spread across Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and Djibouti are affected by drought that is said to be the worst in 60 years. Somalia is among the hardest hit and an ongoing civil war in the east African country makes responding to the humanitarian and food security crisis more challenging. The UN has said some 3.7 million Somalis are in need of emergency assistance. According to UNHCR, tens of thousands have fled their homes, walking for weeks in search of food with many young children dying along the way. It said between 40 per cent and 50 per cent of the children arriving in Kenya and Ethiopia are acutely malnourished. The U.N's World Food Programme had on July 28, asked donors to provide an additional $8.6 million on top of the $136.3 million already requested to respond to the food crisis across the Horn of Africa. The Programme said it had already received pledges of over $250 million from Australia, Brazil, Canada, the European Commission, France, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Luxembourg, Monaco, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States, as well as from the U.N. Central Emergency Fund. The African Union has fixed August 9 for a pledging conference aimed at raising funds to help people afflicted by the drought and famine in the Horn of Africa. The Union had so far given $500,000 to help solve the hunger crisis.
No comments:
Post a Comment