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Wednesday November 22, 2023
FILE PHOTO: Lower Jubba, Somalia
The El Niño-induced heavy rains and flash flooding killed
130 people in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia, while the region is still reeling from
one of the most severe droughts in 40 years. Despite the pressing needs,
funding to tackle the increasing humanitarian crises in 2023 in the three
countries have fallen significantly short by $4.1 billion since in 2023 alone.
More worryingly, some donors such as the UK, Canadian and
Germany governments plan to reduce their 2024 humanitarian assistance budget by
up to 50%. Oxfam already reported last
September that rich nations paid less than 5 percent of the $53.3 billion East
Africa needs to confront the climate crisis.
Fati N’Zi-Hassane, Oxfam in Africa Director said:
“East Africa is at the epicentre of climate change despite
contributing very little to the greenhouse emissions. We are going from one
disaster to the next as climatic shocks become more frequent and intense. The
situation remains critical and demands the rich nations to cut their emissions
and pay their fair share in humanitarian and climate financing.”
To date, the 2023 Humanitarian Response Plans for Ethiopia
and Somalia and the Flash Appeal for Kenya, which together require 7 billion to
target 33 million people are jointly 41% funded.
In Somalia, the Juba and Shabelle rivers have burst their
banks, washing away homes, farms and livestock as well as bridges and other
infrastructure. To date over 1.5 million people are affected by the floods,
456,800 people have been displaced and 53 killed. Heavy rains have intensified
in the Puntland, Galmudug, Southwest, Hirshabelle and Jubaland States with
further flash flooding anticipated in the coming days and weeks.
With above normal rainfall expected to persist until end of
2023, this will worsen an already grave humanitarian situation where nearly a
quarter of the population are expected to face crisis levels of hunger by end
of 2020.
In Kenya, the flooding has killed 52 people, uprooted over
15,000 families from their homes and decimated hundreds of acres of farmland
and over 1,000 livestock.
In Ethiopia, the Somali regional government has reported
that the floods have killed over 52 people, displaced over 39,985 people and
affected 108,000 who are facing the loss of their homes and livestock.
Halima Hassan, a mother of six from Daynille, Somalia is now
displaced for the second time in a year.
“I lost my home, livestock, nearly everything I had to the
drought, my family had to relocate to this site for displaced people where we
had just started to rebuild our lives but now comes the flood. The little I had
left is gone, my makeshift camp, my six goats. I don’t know where my family
will eat next, let alone sleep” she said.
In Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia, Oxfam and our partners are
providing assistance such as clean water, rapid flexible cash assistance,
matched with longer-term support to help communities be more resilient to the
changing climate but needs are growing every day and fast outpacing the
assistance available to communities.
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