Kenya and Somalia: a tale of two droughts

Nick Guttmann blogs from northern Kenya

Have now reached Sololo in the far north of Kenya very near the Ethiopian border. I made a similar trip, driving north along the Somali border during the 2006 drought, and this time I was struck by how few animals we saw. It is clear that many people have not been able to restock after the last major drought and those that did have lost a very high proportion of their herds.

We met a man yesterday at a small reservoir known as a water pan, who arrived with his 30 cattle. He told us that he had 3,000 when this crisis began. That water pan was likely to last another 15 days and after that he fully expected to lose his remaining 30 cattle because they were now too weak from hunger to walk to the next pan or borehole.

As one of the few sources of water in the area, this water pan was crowded with hundreds of animals, mostly camels and goats, which are hardier than cattle. People breed cattle because they provide milk and command a higher value than goats in times of rain.

The political chaos in neighbouring Somalia means that we do not know for sure how many people are suffering the effects of the same drought there. We can only estimate based on the huge numbers who are arriving at the Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya and Dolo Ado in Ethiopia.

I have worked in Somalia in the past and there is no excuse for people being forced to flee their homes in search of emergency relief because humanitarian agencies are being targeted by Al Shabaab and other armed groups.

ACT is about to begin trucking water to fill tanks for communities in Kenya that have little or no water left. We are also supporting local technicians to make sure that the overstretched boreholes are equipped with spare parts and are kept in good repair.

We will also pay people a market rate for their remaining cattle so they do not lose everything and are in a position to restock when the rains return in October.

Such simple initiatives could easily be replicated in Somalia allowing people to stay where they are instead of making a long and dangerous trek across the border into Kenya. All belligerents in Somalia must allow unfettered access for humanitarian agencies so that they can provide much-needed emergency relief without fear of attack or repercussions.

It is fantastic that some agencies are managing to work in Somalia, but it is crucial that more are allowed to enter and work freely.

In Kenya the drought problem is just as bad, but the government here welcomes the international relief effort and works closely alongside it. The scale of the problem and financial constraints hinder work in Kenya, but at least politics does not.

ACT Alliance's work in Dadaab is carried out by the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), which manages the camp.

Nick Guttmann is head of emergency relief at ACT member Christian Aid.

Horn of Africa drought: 10 million could starve

The worst drought to hit the Horn of Africa in six decades has driven scores of malnourished and desperate people to the world’s largest refugee camp.

The United Nations describes the situation in the region as the most severe food security emergency in the world today, with the Famine Early Warning Systems Network warning that the response is “inadequate to prevent a further deterioration”. Levels of severe, acute malnutrition in this area, particularly among children, are also of great concern.

The mix of drought, skyrocketing food prices, food shortages, deaths of livestock in large numbers and conflict in Somalia has led to a massive increase in the number of new arrivals each day in Dadaab refugee camp, run by ACT Alliance, on the Kenya-Somalia border.

The camp receives about 1300 people daily, mostly women with children and elderly people. The noticeable influx of people fleeing the drought began at the end of May, swelling an already overcrowded camp that is now home to 370,000.

The camp opened 20 years ago to shelter 90,000 people displaced by the war in Somalia. At the time, a family of five lived on a plot of land the same size as a small house. Since late 2008, UNHCR has had to put second families on each plot land. And then third families.

In just the last three years, the fighting in Somalia has pushed the camp population up by 85 percent, putting immense pressure on aid, the environment and straining relations between refugees and residents of nearby towns.

Camp officials are now unable to register all arrivals, although everyone receives food. More than 42,000 new arrivals are forced to take shelter outside the camp boundaries because the camp is unable to accommodate them. The number grows by the day.

“People are arriving exhausted and dehydrated. Between 20 and 30 children malnourished children die every month soon after reaching the camp.”

Lennart Hernander, speaking on behalf of ACT, says people are arriving at Dadaab noticeably malnourished, and that between 20 and 30 children die of malnutrition in the camp each month. “In June, it was obvious just by passing through the graveyard that there were new children’s graves.

“When people arrive, they are exhausted from walking and often dehydrated. We are seeing more older people which is unusual. The elderly tend to stay put in their homes until things get really bad,” Hernander said.

Some new arrivals had travelled from as far as Mogadishu, in some cases on foot over 1000km, with the malnutrition rates among new arrivals reaching 15 percent.

The United Nations says that throughout the Horn of Africa, more than 10 million people need emergency aid, with Kenya and Ethiopia recorded as having the largest number - 3.2 million each- hungry. The UN predicts there could be famine in some of the worst drought affected areas by September.

On July 7, it was reported that Islamist rebels had lifted a ban on humanitarian agencies supplying food aid to millions of Somalis.

ACT members in the region say they have never seen such a crisis in their lives, with one member of staff saying “things are changing by the hour and the situation has never been this bad.”

In the two worst-affected countries, Kenya and Ethiopia, ACT is distributing food and supplementary feeding for children, the elderly and nursing mothers, improving existing water supplies and trucking in water to some areas. In the longer term, ACT will be looking to rehabilitate pastures, ponds and water points, re-stock goat and sheep herds and grow animal feed.

But that will only happen when the current hunger crisis is over. For now ACT’s priorities are to meet people’s urgent need for food, clean water, shelter and medicine and to join forces with other aid agencies, UN bodies and governments in order to reach as many as possible of the 10 million people who risk starving to death.

Governments and aid agencies are meeting to prioritise needs. Some ACT members are also lobbying governments in the region to declare national disasters as they mount their responses to the crisis.

ACT's work in Dadaab is carried out by the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), which manages the camp.

For more information go to the ACT Alert Reference Number: 21/2011

UN declares famine in two Somali states

Laurie MacGregor reports from Somalia

Famine has swept through two areas of Somalia, the United Nations officially declares today, confirming the analysis of ACT agencies working in the country.

While the announcement refers to the Bakool and Lower Shabelle regions of southern Somalia, ACT predicts that the entire south will face famine within the next two months. There is ample evidence that millions of people in Somalia already have little or no access to food, are acutely malnourished and are at risk of starvation within months, says the 78-member Somalia NGO Consortium, in which ACT participates. More than 3.7 million Somalis, or half of the entire population, are in need of humanitarian assistance. In some areas in south central Somalia, more than half of the population is malnourished - of whom more than one in four is severely malnourished.

UN coordinating network OCHA estimates that as many as ten million people are now affected by drought and food shortages accross the Horn of Africa. The situation is described as the worst for 60 years. Somalia, where ACT is now hard at work distributing food to over 30,000 people, is one of the worst affected.

Aid underway
"We are already underway in our efforts to distribute 262 tonnes of flour and 52 tonnes of cooking oil to the hardest-hit areas of Gedo province in Somalia. This first delivery will assist over 30,000 people in four villages for around a month. However, needs are huge. We received over US $700,000 from the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs towards Somalia earlier this year, but we are now applying for more," explains Gaim Kebreab, representing ACT in Somalia and Kenya.

He describes a situation under which people are beoming increasingly desperate now that their crops have dried out and died, and animals are now dying in large numbers.

"Food prices have exploded this last year, and for many, the need for food and water is acute," says Kebreab.

An assessment team was sent last week to the affected areas to evaluate the situation and plan a relief effort. ACT has worked in this region of Africa for decades, and has a strong local network of partner organisations on the ground that can ensure a rapid and effective response.

Towards famine
ACT raised the alarm about the dramatically deteriorating situation accross Africa's Horn three months ago, but it has taken time for the international community to respond. Hunger and drought are far from a new phenomenon in this part of Africa, but now that two rains in a row have failed at the same time as food prices have increased, the threat of famine is very real in the worst-affected areas.

"The population of Somalia, and accross the region, need all the help they can get right now," says Kebreab.

ACT is working in Somalia's Gedo province through its member Norwegian Church Aid (NCA).

Contact:
Gaim Kebreab, area representative for Somalia/Kenya, tel. +254 733 609 936
NCA press hotline: +47 932 42 493

Sandstorm in China

The yellow gale continued to sweep regions in Northwest China on Sunday after severe sandstorms hit Gansu province and killed three people in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region over the weekend......With wind speed reaching at least 36 meters a second, the gale also hampered rescue and relief work in quake-hit Yushu County of Qinghai Province on Sunday. (http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2010-04/26/content_9772331.htm)

"This is probably the most devastating sandstorm I have ever experienced in my whole life," says Ms. Tang Chuanfang, Amity's rescue worker ," Yellow sand, grabbed by and mingled with the gale pressed on to the ground from the sky. Sandstorm is so strong that it's impossible to keep our eyes open. We could only see at two or three meters distance. We get a whole mouthful of sand when eating and drinking. To cope with that, we kept our masks on all day long. Some tents are blown away, some people got injured, the already broken houses are under greater threaten. The sand smell penetrates the air. We feel like to be blown away by the gale."

Amity's relief work continues on in Qinghai. In Xining, Amity team finished purchasing of the 6th batch of relief resources which will be on put the way to Yushu tomorrow. Included in the materials were 12 tons of cooking oil and 375 boxes of feminine napkins.

On Sunday, April 25, a memorial service was held in Mochou Church, Nanjing in memory of the deceased in Yushu earthquake. During the service, Ms Kou Weiwei from Amity did a presentation on Amity's relief work which has been greatly echoed by the congregation members. At the end of the service, congregation members contributed a total of 102,600 Yuan to support Amity's relief work. Meanwhile, churches in Wuxi and Kunshan in Southern Jiangsu have also made generous donations of RMB 70,000 Yuan in total.

Please continue praying with Amity while the young and devoted staff continues their efforts in Qinghai Tibetan Plateau with the local people.

Sincerely,
She Hongyu

ACT Brings Relief to Yushu Earthquake Survivors

In sub-zero temperatures at close to 4,000m, survival is tough for the earthquake-hit communities in China’s mountainous Qinghai Province - even tougher than it was for the survivors of the Sichuan earthquake in 2008, says ACT Alliance member Amity Foundation.

Last Tuesday’s earthquake killed 1,994 people and injured 12,000, as well as leaving hundreds of others missing in one of the poorest regions in western China. Rescue teams and relief efforts are hampered by thin air, at 60% oxygen density, which is giving rescuers altitude sickness. There are also transport difficulties to the remote region.

Amity Foundation distributing relief
ACT member Amity Foundation, coordinating with the Chinese authorities, is continuing to distribute emergency relief, including quilts, food and water to help people survive in some of the worst-hit areas.

The people of Yushu are being accommodated in one of four designated shelter areas – a stadium, a forested area, a horse-racing track and an open area outside town – or living in the open air beside the remains of their houses. People are building their own emergency shelters using salvaged materials.

Speaking from the small Tibetan village of Hong Wei, He Wen, Assistant General Secretary of Amity, said all the houses in the cluster of villages there were badly damaged. Residents are forced to spend the nights outside, many of them sleeping on the ground. Most families have received a little basic food and water assistance. Damage to water supplies means that the villagers have to walk 3km to fetch water.

Electric supply is cut
Lack of electricity continues to be a problem and Amity is planning to request support for solar-powered systems as part of the crisis phase response, especially for the poorest and most vulnerable households, schools and hospitals.

The Chinese government has mounted a strong relief operation, with a focus on search and rescue, with the army, police and local people. But they, too, are hindered by the distances to deliver aid quickly.

Others bringing assistance include the Chinese Red Cross, local non-governmental organisations and private companies. Their assistance is also important to fill the gaps, explains He Wen.

He Wen said the people of the area were enduring temperatures as low as 17°C, and had little fuel or quilts for warmth. “It’s very, very cold, so people are just wearing heavy coats... we need quilts".

Before the earthquake Amity was well-known in the region, working with communities on bio-gas and solar energy projects for cooking and lighting.