Flood, Drought and Humanitarian Response Plan - Somalia 2019

Alternating Climactic Shocks Require Additional Planning Frameworks

The 2019 HRP, launched jointly in January 2019 by the Federal Government of Somalia and humanitarian agencies, envisioned programming of US$1.08 billion to assist 3.4 million people in need from January till December 2019. The year has unfolded in a series of extremes as dry conditions and delayed rains gave way to record flooding that required significant changes in the composition of humanitarian plans that remained within the financial requirement of the original HRP for 2019.

In May, the HRP programming was superseded by the Drought Impact Response Plan (DIRP), which was launched in response to the outcome of the poor 2018 Deyr season (October-December) harvest, unusually hot, dry conditions during the 2019 Jilaal season (January-March) and the prolonged delay in the 2019 Gu’ rains (April-June). The result of the subsequent Gu’ harvest was the lowest recorded dating back to 1995. The DIRP contained $686 million in drought related programming to cover the period June-December 2019, a sum approximately equivalent to the existing shortfall in the 2019 HRP at the time the plan was launched.

Since October, however, riverine flooding caused by heavy rains in the Ethiopian highlands and flash flooding caused by severe rains in Somalia have resulted in 17 recorded deaths and affected over half a million people across the country, including 370,000 people who have been displaced from their homes. In addition to deaths and displacement, farmland, infrastructure and properties have been destroyed and livelihoods disrupted. In response, the Federal Government and humanitarian partners launched the joint Flood Response Plan (FRP), with a requirement of US$72.5 million to provide urgent assistance to people affected by the floods. This total was accommodated within the existing US$1.08 billion requirement, mostly through reprogramming of DIRP activities as requirements changed.