ICRC News 97/48 - 4 December 1997

Ethiopia/Somalia: No end in sight to the human tragedy

Rain has continued to fall unabated over eastern Ethiopia and southern Somalia in the past week. What was supposed to be the light rainy season known as "deyr" is turning out to be the heaviest rainfall since 1961. According to meteorologists, there may be no letup until the end of the year.

In the Somali region of Lower Shabelle the inhabitants' plight is worsening by the hour, with the water levels rising steadily over the last five days. Although the ICRC teams are working around the clock to distribute aid (high protein biscuits, blankets and tarpaulins) to the victims of the overflowing Juba and Shabelle rivers, the impact of their efforts appears small in comparison with the magnitude of the disaster.

In the Lower Shabelle region, the ICRC is still dealing with the first phase of the emergency, as new villages are flooded and access routes cut off. In the Jilib/Marere area, thousands of inhabitants are living off scraps carried by the floodwaters, and their nutritional and health status is deteriorating rapidly.

Meanwhile, in Ethiopia three helicopters continue their daily shuttles out of the small airport of the town of Gode to provide assistance for as many displaced people and stranded villagers as possible in the flooded areas of Gode and Afder in the south-east. Every day, new isolated or flooded villages are being discovered. Their inhabitants are in desperate need of shelter, food and basic medicines; malaria, dysentery and other infectious diseases are spreading because of poor nutrition and the shortage of clean water.

Owing to the limited logistic resources, aid has not been able to reach more than 25% of the stricken areas. Conservative estimates already speak of more than 16,000 displaced persons and 100,000 people directly affected by the disaster.