Source

People facing deteriorating food conditions in parts of Burkina Faso are eating just one small meal a day, according to local church leaders.

Some communities are even being abandoned as hunger forces residents to leave in search of food.

Tearfund partners in the West African country say the traditional gap between when food stocks run out and the next harvest is ready has started three months earlier than usual, leaving locals extremely hungry and increasingly desperate.

Residents of Timbuktu have been speaking of the hardships they have faced during recent weeks and encroaching rebel army attacks.

Tearfund partner TNT, which has been providing food aid to the community, has been hearing testimonies from those who had fled the Malian town due to fears of imminent attack.

It is now reported to be under the control of the Islamic group Ansar Dine, who seized it alongside Tuareg separatists on Sunday.

26 March 2012

A Tearfund partner is providing emergency food aid to people living around Timbuktu in Mali who are affected by the Sahel hunger crisis as well as in-country conflict.

Supplies are being distributed by our partner TNT not only to locals in this remote area south of the Sahara but to people who have fled there following the recent Tuareg rebellion.

Like Niger, Burkina Faso and Chad, Mali is badly affected by food shortages following the partial failure of rains and subsequent poor crops last year

Boats and planes are being used by a Tearfund partner in northern Brazil to reach people affected by some of the worst flooding seen in the region.

Torrential rain has caused rivers to burst their banks in Acre state, making 26,000 families homeless and forcing seven municipalities to declare states of emergency.

Nineteen indigenous communities have been inundated by the flood waters which have caused widespread damage to cash crops such as cassava.

Tearfund partners are supplying emergency aid to people affected by the worst tropical storms to hit Mozambique in years.

Winds of more than 130mph and torrential rains recently struck the country’s coast causing severe flooding which has wrecked thousands of homes, agricultural livelihoods and infrastructure.

The provinces of Maputo, Gaza and Zambezia in southern and central Mozambique took the brunt of cyclones Dando and Funso and heavy rains caused major flooding along the Incomati, Limpopo, Umbeluzi rivers in the south and many more rivers in Zambezia province.

Incidents of debilitating waterborne illnesses have been dramatically reduced among Congolese families following a Tearfund project.

Around 2 million people live in the province of Maniema in the Democratic Republic of Congo and only around five per cent have access to clean drinking water.

As a result, people who rely on unsafe water sources regularly succumb to diarrhoea and other problems which limit their ability to work or go to school.

Tearfund teams have been tackling the problem in five communities by providing clean water supplies as well as sanitation.

People living in Somali coastal communities are facing significant hardship as a result of being caught in the combined grip of drought and conflict, according to a Tearfund partner.

Assessments by World Concern of some communities along Somalia’s coast have revealed that many people are lacking even the most basic services, with food, water, medicines, livelihood support and sanitation urgently needed.

Families whose livelihoods were severely damaged by flooding in Pakistan are returning to agricultural productivity after help from Tearfund.

In the summer of 2010, monsoon rains led to extensive flooding affecting 18 million people.

Soon afterwards, Tearfund began distributing seeds and fertiliser to enable the most vulnerable to restart growing their crops after the waters subsided.

Food price hikes, erratic weather patterns and insecurity are compounding a serious food crisis unfolding in West Africa.

Millions of people don’t have enough to eat after inadequate rains and insect infestations led to poor harvests and livestock losses in the Sahel region. Niger and Chad are the worst affected but parts of Burkina Faso and Mali are also deteriorating.