Geneva, November 26, 1997
1. Introduction and background
Since the end of september until now, heavy rain has continued to pour down in the southern
part of Somalia. October is the rainy season for this area, but people cannot remember that it
ever lasted this long or that it ever brought this much water. The unexpected floods have
caused the Juba river and the Shabelle river to flow miles over its banks. One place we
visited, the Juba river had been extended with 40 kilometres, according to local authorities.
Somalia does not seem capable of dealing with an emergency situation like this. It is one of the poorest countries in the world. It has been without a government since 1991. Southern part of Somalia is affected by the war between islamic fundamentalists and Ethiopian forces. For the last two years, the southern Somalis have been facing drought. All this makes them vulnerable to the ongoing flooding.
ACT/NCA has been involved in the Gedo region in southern Somalia since 1992, concentrating on institutional development, capacity building, human resource development, agricultural and other productive activities. A mission existing of TROCAIRE, MEMISA, and ACT/NCA first visited Gedo to assess the flood situation on the 12th of October 1997. The 21st I went as an information officer together with James Migwi, NCAs program monitor for Somalia, to see the damages of the floods and what we could do to assist.
During the five days I was in Gedo, I was able to visit Garbaharrey, Burdhubo (about 50 kms from Garbaharrey) and a small village area called Boa, about 30 kms east of Garbaharrey. I also talked to people that came walking from Elade (65 kms from Garbaharrey). We had planned to go to Elade ourselves, but the rain destroyed the roads.
2. Health situation
The floods have had a serious impact on people's lives in the Gedo region. At the places I
visited, including Elade, they have counted about 50 deaths altogether. New deaths are
reported every day. Some people have drowned, while most of the deaths are caused either
by, or by a combination of malaria, diarrhoea and pneumonia.
I was told that people were placing their children in the trees, praying that the water would not wash them away.
In the city centre of Garbaharrey I could not see obvious malnutrition, even if they told me they had only leaves to eat. We were able to get lunch at one of the restaurants at the market place. I could see many healthy looking goats and camels in the hillsides outside the city. They might not have much to eat, but at the moment they are not dying of starvation.
The situation seems to be more serious in Burdhubo. Burdhubo has been totally covered with water. The day I left Somalia, heavy rainfall had caused the Juba river to increase up to two meters from peoples houses, and again cover all the cultivated land in the district. The city council in Burdhubo said that they had nothing left either of medicines or food. Anyway, as far as I could see, the people I met in Burdhubo centre were not in a very bad condition.
3. Displaced
The worst affected group is the displaced people. I met a group of approximately 50 women
and children outside the village of Boa. They used to live in one of the 25 villages between
Boa and Juba river. The river has now swallowed all of this area, and its 20.000 inhabitants
(according to the city council) have been displaced. Many in this group were obviously
malnourished. Most of the children looked weak and very skinny. They were coughing and
accordin to their mothers, suffering from malaria. Also the adults in this group looked very
ill.
I visited two families, one young mother, seven months pregnant, with her five children, and another mother with her six children. They lived under plastic sheeting given to them by ACT/NCA just like the rest of the group. The pregnant woman said she had only 10 goats out of 30 left. All the goats still alive were suffering from foot-and-mouth-disease. I saw them lying on the ground around her shelter, breathing heavily. The only food they had, beside the small amount of milk coming from the sick goats, were tea leaves. The other woman and only three sick goats left to feed her family, also suffering from foot-and-mouth-disease.
The total number of displaced in the areas I visited, including Elade, is 6.500 families. That could mean between 35.000 and 40.000 people.
4. Farming
As far as the local authorities told me, and as far as I could see with my own eyes, 100
percent of all cultivable land is destroyed by the floods. Just before the rain came, the farmers
had sowed vegetable seeds and grain for the season to come. The rain had washed it all away.
Some farmers told me they had tried to sow five times but each time the flood took the seeds.
The water coming from the hills and mountains down towards the fields are in some cases salty. Parts of the ground are salty, and the water washes the salt down to the agricultural areas. This can make the ground unfit for agriculture, even when the rain stops.
It is extremly important to help the farmers in the area with seeds, so that they can sow and have something to harvest in March. This depends also on the weather. If the rain continues, the district will depend on food relief to survive the season to come.
A huge part of the livestock has either died or become sick. In Garbaharrey the city council told me that approximately 10 percent of the livestock has died, while about 50 percent is suffering from diseases (mainly foot-and-mouth-disease). The other places I visited could not give me any numbers, but the situation seems to be the same or even worse. Obviously the livestock of the displaced people from the riverbanks are most seriously stricken.
As in most of Somalia, agriculture and livestock are the most common means of livelihood. When the land is destroyed and the livestock are dying of diseases, it means tha basis of existence is disturbed.
5. Response by ACT/NCA
As a respond to the first assessment to the area (15th of October 1997), NCA/ACT has
already distributed the following items to Garbaharrey and Burdhubo:
15 MT rice
6 MT sugar
6 MT oil
100 MT plastic sheeting
3.000 blankets
500 sets kitchen utensils
As we were travelling in the area, we saw the blue and green plastic sheeting properly used to secure the houses from the rain, or even a substitute for the houses destroyed by the floods. Everywhere we went people were thanking us for the quick response to the situation. The aid reached the region only two days after the first assessment (15th of October).
We have also bought 25 MT of seeds (sorghum, maize and beans) from a truck that was stuck about 20 kms north of Burdhubo. The seeds are now brought to Burdhubo by 40 donkeys. These seeds were half the price of the seeds available in Nairobi.
NCA Oslo/Norwegian Foreign Affairs have contributed with 2 million NOK (approximately 270.000 USD). This was confirmed on the 25th of November. On the 2nd of December we will start to bring the following items to Garbaharrey, for the most vulnerable groups:
30 MT sorghum
8 MT sugar
7 MT cooking oil
12.000 agricultural tools
125 kg seeds
Also a program co-ordinator, the somalian professor Abduraham Mohamud Shekh, will be sent from Nairobi the 2nd of December, to lead the project for the coming three months.
6. Logistics and security
It is not a problem to communicate from Garbaharrey. There is both a radio connection and a
satellite phone (871.761.294.578/579). The satellite connection is difficult, so it is impossible
to receive calls. The staff in Garbaharrey is in daily contact with NCA Nairobi.
Both Garbaharrey and Burdhubo have an aistrip, but beacuse of the rain only the one in Garbaharrey can be accountable (at least for the moment). Some of the roads in the district can be used by 4-wheel driven cars, but not for trucks. To get the aid items out to the districts, we can either use donkeys (the distances are not so great) or helicopters.
For the time being the security in the region is good. There are no problems either at the airport or along the roads.
7. Future perspectives
Right now the first priority should be food relief and medicines for the displaced people.
Many of them will certainly die if they don't receive help within the nearby future.
If the rain continues, may God forbid, the entire region will be in need of food relief. If the rain stops, seeds must be a priority.
For the future it is also essential to help farmers to rehabilitate their livestocks and rebuild their houses, the schools and the hospitals that are taken by the floods.
According to the city council in Garbaharrey, there are about one million inhabitants in the entire Gedo region. The numbers I have do only include the places I visited, which means that the total numbers of dead, displaced and sick or dead livestock probably are much higher.
8. Collaboration with other agencies
ACT/NCA are planning a co-operation with MEMISA and WFP for the coming relief work
in the Gedo region. At the moment I do not have more details about this, but it will be
worked out within the next few days.
For further information, please do not hesitate to contact the ACT Secretariat.