Attachments
Highlights
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Over 770,000 people have been affected and 230,000 displaced due to ongoing severe floods along the Juba and Shabelle river basins. The floods have critically impacted crops, shelters and critical service infrastructure, including water, health, nutrition and education facilities. The increased risk of water-borne communicable diseases remains a major threat, especially acute watery diarrhoea (AWD)/cholera.
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UNICEF and partners have activated two health centres, two mobile teams and one cholera treatment centre (CTC) in Belet Weyne, while dispatching tents, essential medicines including diarrheal kits to serve a population of 60,000, including 13,600 children under five and 5,400 pregnant and lactating women in the flood-affected areas. Four more mobile health teams are being deployed to support an additional 40,000 people.
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UNICEF and partners are providing emergency WASH services to over 300,000 people in flood affected districts. In Belet Weyne, UNICEF has dispatched 1,200 hygiene kits, is delivering clean water to 5,000 households and providing hygiene promotion activities for 12,000 households.
SITUATION IN NUMBERS
5.4 million
People in need of humanitarian assistance
(FSNAU-FEWSNET Technical Release, February 2018)
1.2 million
Children under-5 that are or could be acutely malnourished in the next year
772,000
People directly affected by floods in April 2018
(OCHA flood update)
Situation Overview & Humanitarian Needs
The humanitarian situation in Somalia remains critical due to ongoing impacts of drought, displacement, conflict and now seasonal floods. Increased rainfall since the beginning of April has resulted in a sharp rise in water levels in the Shabelle and Juba rivers, leading to severe flooding in central and southern regions of Somalia. Current flood levels have multiple riverine locations reporting highest water levels in history. Moderate to heavy rains are projected for the coming weeks, but water levels have slowly started to decrease along riverine locations. Close to 770,000 people have been affected and 229,000 displaced because of the floods, with Hiraan, Gedo and Lower Juba regions being the worst affected. The floods have critically impacted crops, shelters and critical service infrastructure, including water, health, nutrition and education facilities. The increased risk of waterborne communicable diseases remains a major threat, including AWD/cholera. Reported priority needs are water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), shelter and food. Health and nutrition service delivery remains key as the most affected locations already ha critical levels of acute malnutrition prior to the floods. Interruption of already limited education services is having a critical impact on learners, so early action to restore services remains a key priority.
Beyond the acute impact of the floods, 5.4 million people are still in need of humanitarian assistance throughout Somalia, including 2.8 million children. Although the food security outlook is projected to improve for southern parts of the country over the coming months as a result of the improved rain outcomes and sustained humanitarian action, malnutrition rates however across Somalia remain among the worst in the world, particularly in areas hosting IDPs. In total about 1.2 million children under five are projected to be malnourished in 2018 and of them, 232,000 are expected to be suffering from life threatening malnutrition. Over 4.4 million people need humanitarian WASH services, with 3.5 out of 5 people without adequate water to meet basic needs. More than 5.7 million people require basic health services, including critical needs in maternal and child health, as one in seven Somali children die before the age of five. Disease outbreaks such as acute watery diarrhoea AWD/cholera and measles continue to represent a major threat to children with over 2,146 cases of AWD/cholera (56 per cent children under 5) and 5,242 cases of suspected measles reported as of April 2018. Over 3 million children, out of 4.9 million in country, are estimated to be out of school. More than 2.1 million people have been displaced, including over 1 million in the last year alone; and displacement flows continue at critical levels. Exclusion and discrimination of socially marginalised groups continue to exacerbate high levels of acute humanitarian needs. More than 76 percent of recorded gender-based violence (GBV) survivors are reported to be from IDP communities. Grave violations against children continue at worrying rates with abductions, recruitment and use, as well as killing/maiming reported as the primary concerns.