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Severe drought uproots 620,000 Somalis in 6 months: UN

Xinhua, May 4, 2017 Adjust font size:

About 620,000 Somalis have been displaced from their homes since November 2016 due to severe drought ravaging parts of the Horn of Africa nation, the UN humanitarian agency said on Thursday.

The UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said about 7,000 people have crossed into neighboring Ethiopia and Kenya as the threat of famine once again looms large over Somalia.

"Drought-related displacements to urban centers have slowed down land preparation activities ahead of the rainy season in agropastoral areas of Bay, Bakool, Hiraan, Gedo, Middle Juba and riverine areas of Shabelle," OCHA said in its latest Humanitarian Bulletin.

In drought affected areas in northern and central regions, rural pastoralists have resorted to expensive livestock supplementary feeding, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)-managed Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit.

It said humanitarian partners have massively scaled up famine prevention response in the first quarter of 2017 and reached millions of people with life-saving food, water, nutritional and health services.

Somalia is in the midst of a drought after rains failed in November 2016, for a third year in the row. About 615,000 people looking for food and water have been displaced since then.

Humanitarians in Somalia are seeking an overall 825 million U.S. dollars to reach the most vulnerable with life-saving assistance until June.

According to the UN, donors have been quick with their contributions for a scale-up of response and over 600 million dollars has been made available or pledged for humanitarian response since January.

"This has enabled operational agencies to rapidly reach millions of Somalis with safe water, food and medical assistance. Cash and vouchers are safeguarding more than 1.5 million of the 3 million most vulnerable people in emergency and crisis phases," it said.

OCHA said more than 1.2 million people have been reached since the beginning of the year with safe water. More than 1.7 million were provided with improved access to food in March alone. Endit