Ethiopia Weekly Humanitarian Bulletin, 09 May 2016

Key Issues

• Exceptional and extensive flooding across Ethiopia has resulted in the reported displacement of 19,557 households in Afar (671 HH), Amhara (420 HH), Harari (287 HH), Oromia (5,322 HH), SNNP (2,972 HH) and Somali (9,885 HH).

• Spring rains seriously hamper dispatching of food and nutrition supplies to the Somali region. Afdem, Liban and Sitti zones have been mainly inaccessible

• Prioritization exercise has been undertaken following the current late but well performing Belg spring rains which will inform the Ethiopia Humanitarian Fund and complement the Humanitarian Requirement Document.

For more information, please contact, contact: ocha-eth@un.org

Ethiopia is responding to an El Niño-caused drought emergency: The El Niño global climatic event has wreaked havoc on Ethiopia’s summer rains. This comes on the heels of failed spring rains, and has driven food insecurity, malnutrition and water shortages in affected areas of the country. A well-coordinated response is already underway and expanding rapidly, although the scale of the developing emergency exceeds resources available. Given the lead times necessary for the procurement of relief items, the Government and its international partners have called for early action on this slow onset natural disaster.

An Estimated 485,610 to be affected by Belg floods, including 189,668 to be displaced

Exceptional and extensive flooding across Ethiopia from the current Belg/spring rains has resulted in the reported displacement of 19,557 households in Afar (671 HH), Amhara (420 HH), Harari (287 HH), Oromia (5,322 HH), SNNP (2,972 HH) and Somali (9,885 HH) according to the International Organization of Migration (IOM)

In response to flash flooding in Somali region, Emergency Shelter (ES) Non Food Items (NFI) kits were distributed by Ethiopia Red Cross Society (ERCS) IOM and Save the Children International (SCI). IOM has received 3,000 out of 6,600 ES/NFI kits with funding from the Ethiopian Humanitarian Fund (EHF) which are being dispatched to Somali (1,500) and Oromia (1,000) regions to support the ES/NFI response to flooding in priority woredas. ES/NFI cluster members are quickly mobilizing remaining partial stocks to contribute to addressing immediate needs while continuing to coordinate on response, including verification and prioritization of needs. An emergency meeting of the ES/NFI cluster is planned in the coming days.

Without additional resources, 17,057 HH will remain without urgent ES/NFI assistance The National Disaster Risk Management Commission (NDRMC) -led Flood Task Force (FTF) has estimated that some 485,610 people will be affected by river and flash floods during 2016 belg season, and 189,668 people across the country are likely to be displaced at some point. FTF has prepared a flood Contingency Plan to mitigate the adverse impacts of the current and anticipated floods. The Task Force will update the Contingency Plan based on the National Meteorological Agency (NMA) forecast for 2016 meher/summer rain season. The government has already issued flood alert warning to the flood risk woredas and communities about the likely occurrences flood and the necessary precautionary measures o be taken in times of flood including river water level monitoring and evacuation of people residing along major as required

Spring Rains Hamper Dispatching of Food and Nutrition Supplies

Over the past month the spring rains have seriously hampered dispatching of food and nutrition supplies o the Somali region.

Afdem, Liban and Sitti zones have been the main areas that are inaccessible. Dire Dawa, from where food is dispatched to Sitti zone, has been hard hit by heavy rains in the past few weeks. WFP has brought a small fleet of 6x6 trucks for dispatch in zones affected by the rain and is looking at ncreasing the fleet given the deterioration of the situation. The Logistics Cluster established in March will be conducting additional assessments to better map inaccessible areas and find alternative ways of deliveries.

Prioritization Exercise to complement Ethiopia’s 2016 Humanitarian Requirement Documents

A Prioritisation exercise was held first week of May to complement the joint Government and Humanitarian partners 2016 Humanitarian Requirement Documents (HRD). The exercise clarified acute relief needs and major gaps that require urgent additional donor support. The HRD will be formally revised in late June ollowing the conclusion of a Government-led, multi-stakeholder Belg assessment starting at the end of May which will assess the success of the spring harvest and outstanding needs in other non-food sectors.