3.7 Million Somalis in Urgent Need of Humanitarian Aid

DISASTER CALENDAR SYMBOLIC COUNTDOWN: 1,202 Days Left 

[November 26, 2012] Mass die-offs resulting from human impact and the planetary response to the anthropogenic assault could occur by early 2016.

• SYMBOLIC COUNTDOWN: 1,202 Days Left to the most Fateful Day in Human History
• Symbolic countdown to the ‘worst day’ in human history began on May 15, 2011 ...

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Global Disasters/ Significant Events

Somalia: Humanitarian Disaster

More than a million Somali refugees are currently hosted in Kenya, Yemen, Egypt, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti, Tanzania and Uganda, and about 1.36 million others internally displaced, settled mainly in the South-Central region, UNHCR reported.

‘Somalia is the most affected country within the Horn of Africa by the ongoing drought, widely regarded as the worst in 60 years. Consecutive seasonal rain failures have led to sky-rocketing food prices, in a country already devastated by two decades of civil war,’ said the report.

• Somali people are facing one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world today.
• Somalia is generating the third highest number of refugees in the world, after Afghanistan and Iraq.
• One in three Somalis is in urgent need of humanitarian help.
• One in every three children living in the South-Central region is malnourished.
• More than 66,000 Somalis have sought refuge in neighboring countries so far this year.

Global Disasters: Links, Forecasts and Background

• The First Wave of World’s Collapsing Cities
• Back to the Primordial Future
• The Fate of Energy Dinosaurs
• Mass Die-offs

• 2010 Disasters [Links to 2010 Disaster Calendar]
• Mega Disasters
• 2011 Disaster Calendar
• 2012 Disaster Calendar

GLOBAL WARNING

• WARNING: Human impact 2.85 x Earth’s diminishing carrying capacity
• WARNING: RAPID DECLINE IN PROGRESS!
• Europe: The First Phase of Collapse Has Started 
• United States: The First Phase of Collapse Has Begun

Famine Declared in 2 Somali Regions

HUMANITARIAN DISASTER

10.7 Million People Caught Between Drought and the UN Corruption

UN declares a famine in southern Somalia

Famine has been declared in two Southern Somali areas, amid the worst drought conditions in at least Half a century.

Some 10.7 million people have been affected in East Africa, with about 750,000 Somalis seeking refuge to neighboring Ethiopia and Kenya.

UN NEEDS MORE MONEY (!)

“Famine in Somalia has killed tens of thousands of people in recent months and could grow even worse unless urgent action is taken, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned on Wednesday. FAO has appealed for $120 million for response to the drought in the Horn of Africa to provide agricultural emergency assistance.”

“Hundreds of people are dying every day and if we do not act now many more will perish,” said FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf.

The famine is expected to spread throughout southern Somalia in the next couple of months, FAO said.

Prolonged severe drought has led to declaration of famine in two southern region. Image source: SAACID-ORG

Drought, Hunger and Refugees

• Somalia. The levels of malnutrition among young children fleeing Somalia’s drought are so high that they drop dead on their way to or within a day of arriving at relief camps in Ethiopia and Kenya, the UNHCR said. See Worst drought in living memory gripping Horn of Africa.
• UNHCR has estimated that more than a quarter of Somalia’s 7.5 million population are now either internally displaced or living as refugees in neighboring countries.
• “The massive influx of Somali refugees into neighbouring Kenya and Ethiopia continues unabated. Relentless violence compounded by devastating drought has forced more than 135,000 Somalis to flee so far this year. In June alone, 54,000 people fled across the two borders, three times the number of people who fled in May.” UNHCR said.
• “There are now more than 750,000 Somali refugees living in the region, mostly in neighbouring Kenya (405,000), Yemen (187,000) and Ethiopia (110,000). Another 1.46 million are displaced within Somalia.”

Drought in the Horn of Africa. Various UN agencies  have had ample time and budget to prevent (respond to) the humanitarian crisis in the drought stricken regions. So why did they fail, again?

Related Links

• Somalia Drought: Mega Disaster Threatens 2.4m People Posted on February 18, 2011
• NO CHANCE: Malnourished kids fleeing Somalia’s drought Posted on July 6, 2011

Worst drought in living memory gripping Horn of Africa

Parts of Kenya and Somalia experiencing pre-famine conditions: UN

At least 10 million people in drought-stricken areas of Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and Uganda are currently faced with severe food crisis and high malnutrition rates, with  parts of Kenya and Somalia experiencing pre-famine conditions, and the situation is worsening, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA) said.

“Two consecutive poor rainy seasons have resulted in one of the driest years since 1950/51 in many pastoral zones,” a spokeswoman of the UNOCHA reported.

“There is no likelihood of improvement until 2012,” she said.

Child malnutrition rates in the worst affected areas exceed 30 percent- more than twice the emergency threshold of 15 percent, according to UNOCHA.

As food prices continue to surge in the region, more of the moderately poor households are being pushed over the edge, UNOCHA said.

Two consecutive poor rainy seasons in the eastern Horn of Africa since last year have resulted one of the driest years since 1950/51  in many pastoral areas. “The impacts of the drought have been exacerbated by high local cereal prices, excess livestock mortality, conflict and restricted humanitarian access in some areas,” said ReliefWeb.

Eastern Africa: Drought – Humanitarian Snapshot (as of 28 Jun 2011)

Source: UNOCHA. Click image to enlarge. Click here to view the original map (PDF)

Related Links

• Mass Die-offs