Somalia: Floods - Oct 2008

Executive summary

This report was commissioned by UNHCR’s Shelter and Settlements Section (SSS).
It combines the findings of two separate evaluations undertaken in Somalia in the latter half of 2014:

1) Shelter response

2) Shelter cluster coordination

Sixty-fourth session
Item 72 (a) of the provisional agenda
Strengthening of the coordination of humanitarian and
disaster relief assistance of the United Nations, including
special economic assistance: strengthening of the coordination

Appeal Target: US$ - 3,800,321

Geneva, 17 February 2009

Dear Colleagues,

Drought, floods and the effects of 17 years of armed violence and lawlessness have driven much of the Somali population into destitution. The ICRC has been providing hundreds of thousands of Somalis with food, water and other aid.

General situation

The ICRC is one of the few organizations that can reach conflict-affected communities in remote areas.

GENEVA -- UNHCR is seeking $92 million to ease the plight of nearly 250,000 Somalis in one of the world's oldest, largest and most congested refugee sites amid growing fears of even more arrivals as the situation in Somalia deteriorates. The emergency assistance to Somali refugees in Dadaab, Kenya, focuses on relieving dramatic overcrowding in three adjacent camps that are now three times their initial capacity, with thousands more people continuing to arrive each month.

Rome, 17 December 2008 - Facts, figures and the latest updates from WFP's high profile emergencies.

DRC

- Negotiations to resolve the conflict, between delegations from both the DRC Government and the Congrès National pour la Défense du Peuple (CNDP), which started on 8 December 2008 in Nairobi under the mediation of the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General (SRSG) for eastern DRC, Olusegun Obasanjo and former Tanzanian president, Benjamin Mkapa, will resume again on 17 December 2008.

Main Developments

- The latest nutrition surveys conducted by the UN Food Security Analysis Unit (FSAU) in October and November confirm the continuing humanitarian crisis, particularly in Central Somalia where some levels of severe malnutrition are nearly 6% compared to 3% in May 2008. The emergency threshold is 4%.

CHAD: Civil insecurity has increased in the east following the end of the rainy season, impeding humanitarian assistance. Localized flooding, dryness, and pest attacks may increase food insecurity in other areas. Cereal prices remain high due to flooding in produc tion areas, the retention of food stocks, poor road access, and high trader demand, preventing improvements in livestock/cereal terms of trade.

Overall, Deyr rains are considered to be normal, resulting in regeneration of pasture, normal crop establishment and improved water availability. The outlook for the Deyr season is expected to be normal in most of the central and south. Pasture, and water availability has improved and migration patterns are resuming to normal in most areas. Cereal crop establishment and development is good in main producing areas of the south.

Key Overall Developments

FAO's Somalia Water and Land Information Management (SWALIM) reported that the threats of floods in the riverine areas of South Somalia are diminishing in the upper river reaches of Juba River. However, river levels are still high in the mid-and lower reaches. Consequently, there is still the possibility of reduced moderate flooding in the lower reaches of the Juba for the coming week.

NAIROBI, 19 November 2008 (IRIN) - At least 8,000 hectares of farmland in southern Somalia's Lower Shabelle region have been destroyed after the Shabelle river burst its banks, displacing thousands of people, officials said.

The flooding occurred around the town of Kurtunwarey, 140km south of Mogadishu.

"In Afgoye Yarey alone, the population of some 1,750 families [about 10,500 people], were affected.

Note: Document is 3 pages

Key Overall Developments

During the week, Somalia Water and Land Information Management (SWALIM) raised the flood alert from moderate to high on the Shabelle and Juba Rivers following significant rainfall in parts of South Somalia and the Ethiopian highlands where the two rivers originate.

INTRODUCTION

In these five Districts of M/Shabelle Region namely: Warsheik, Adale, Aden Yabaal, Mahaday and Balad the Sanitation and Hygiene conditions were very poor after the collapse of previous regime. People have inadequate of access getting of safe drinking water, people are eating contaminated food.

As result of these conditions many people died, malnourished and got sick especially marginalized women and children and Aged people who can not cope the effects of poor sanitation and hygiene.

There were high influx of IDPs fled from Mogadishu as a result of endless fighting …

Food Security Summary:

- Due to the combined effects of drought, conflict and inflation, the food security condition in many parts of Somalia, especially in south and central regions, continues to deteriorate. Over 3 million people, or 43 percent of the country’s population, require humanitarian assistance.

- More than 44,000 refugees from Somalia have been registered in Dadaab camps, in northeastern Kenya, since January 2008 due to civil insecurity and increased destitution. As of September, an average of 5,000 people/month have been arriving at the camps.