Disaster Calendar 2011: Famine Spreads in Somalia

The following is from the August 4 entry in the 2011 Disaster Calendar

[August 4, 2011]  Mass die-offs resulting from human impact and the planetary response to the anthropogenic assault could occur by early 2016.  SYMBOLIC COUNTDOWN: 1,686 Days Left to the ‘Worst Day’ in Human History

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Somali famine spreads to 3 new regions

Death rates and acute malnutrition levels have surpassed famine thresholds in the Balcad and Cadale districts of Middle Shabelle, and among the refugee populations in Mogadishu and the Afgoye corridor:  U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization

The worst drought in decades has affected about 12 million people across the Horn of Africa leaving 3.6 million people at risk of starvation in southern Somalia.

About 30,000 children under the age of 5 have died from starvation in the last 3 months in southern Somalia alone, according to the US government. Some 640,000 Somali children are currently acutely malnourished, the UN said, and the death toll is rising.

Related Links

• Somalia Drought: Mega Disaster Threatens 2.4m People

• A Most Powerful Mechanism of Collapse Posted by edro on November 4, 2008
• Index of Human Impact on Nature (HIoN) March 2008
• Nature’s Warnings Exponentially Intensifying  Posted by edro on April 14, 2011
• The First Wave of World’s Collapsing Cities
• 2011 Disaster Calendar – August

NO CHANCE: Malnourished kids fleeing Somalia’s drought

2011 Disaster Calendar – July 6 Entry

[July 6, 2011]  Mass die-offs resulting from human impact and the planetary response to the anthropogenic assault could occur by early 2016.  SYMBOLIC COUNTDOWN: 1,715 Days Left to the ‘Worst Day’ in Human History

• 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.”

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

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

• Sudan. Some 200 people drowned in the Red Sea when a boat carrying Sudanese migrants to Saudi Arabia sank off the coast of Sudan, reports said.

• Mexico. Death toll from tropical storm Arlene, the first major storm of the 2011 Atlantic Hurricane Season, has climbed to at least 22, reports said.
• TS Arlene made landfall on the Mexican coast at Cabo Rojo late last week with sustained winds of about 65mph, bringing up to 144mm of rain  (at Tamuin), and causing deadly flooding.
• Most of the deaths are said to have occurred from drowning.

Related Links

• 2011 Disaster Calendar
• FEWW DISASTER FORECAST 2011
• 2011 Much More Disastrous
• 2011 SIX TIMES MORE DISASTROUS THAN 2010
• Megadisasters Loom

• 2010 Disasters
• The First Wave of World’s Collapsing Cities
• 2010 Disaster Calendar
• The Fate of Energy Dinosaurs

Somalia Drought: Mega Disaster Threatens 2.4m People

Severe, country-wide drought in Somalia threatens a third of the population: UN Official

UN relief chief warns of humanitarian disaster as drought ravages Somalia and Kenya

Severe drought in Somalia is worsening the humanitarian crisis in the country (Population: 7.2 million) causing more people to become internally displaced. As food and water scarcity worsen, many are moving into refugee camps across the border in Kenya, according to the UN under secretary general for humanitarian affairs, Valerie Amos.

Somali rural society is largely based upon pastoralism – drought has bitten deep into Somali rural society in recent years. Source: SAACID-ORG

“Somalia… is on the brink of a much larger disaster due to the threat of a country-wide drought,” said Amos.

“Malnutrition has increased in the last six months in Southern Somalia and 2.4 million, 32 percent of the population, remain in crisis.”

Current estimated food security conditions, rural areas, January 2010

Image Source:FSAU and FEWS NET via SAACID

“As we speak, there are significant urban population movements from [Somalia’s] Hiran and Middle Shabelle regions to Kenya,” Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Valerie Amos, who visited Somalia and Kenya earlier this month, told reporters at UN Headquarters.

“People are moving due to the deteriorating living conditions and a lack of a way to make a living. Families are said to be selling their assets, including houses and land, to get by and to facilitate their movement to the refugee camps in Kenya,” she said.

“Families are set to start selling their assets, including their houses and land to get by… our actions in the next few months is critical.”

“I cannot stress enough the importance in Somalia of finding a political solution. Only that would enable people to live in peace and dignity.” She said.

Somalia plunged into factional warfare in 1991 when the regime of Muhammad Siad Barre was toppled.

About 431,000 refugees have moved to Kenya, most of whom are from Somalia. About 300,000 of the refugees live in the Dadaab camps, close to Kenya’s border with Somalia.

Related Links: