Informing humanitarians worldwide 24/7 — a service provided by UN OCHA

Madagascar + 29 more

Emergency Transboundary Outbreak Pest (ETOP) Situation Report for May with a Forecast till Mid-July, 2014

Attachments

Summary

During May, several Desert Locust (SGR1) swarms from northwestern Somalia invaded eastern Ethiopia. On May 14th, an immature swarm dominated the sky over the city of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (see picture below). This is an extremely rare phenomenon that has not been in more than half a century. The swarm is believed to have escaped from eastern Ethiopia passing through the Rift Valley and crossing Awash where it destroyed a sugarcane plantation. No damage was reported in Addis and the swarm was later seen heading northwest and reached Gojjam.

More swarms from northeastern Somalia were reported reaching eastern Ethiopia during the last week of May and ground operations were launched against the swarms. Some swarms moved east along the Somalia plateau (DLCO-EA, FAO-DLIS).