Ethiopia Seeks Relief For 88,000 Drought Victims

The UN has reported that Eighty-eight thousand people in the drought-hit lowland agro-pastoral areas of South eastern Ethiopia require emergency food assistance.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said assessment teams have documented an increasing number of livestock deaths due to limited grazing land for pasture and lack of water.

The UN relief agencies said the situation with regard to human health, food security, livelihoods, and livestock health reported in Borena zone has spread to Bale, East Hararghe, Guji and Liben zones of Oromiya Region.

Poor rainfall in the coming months, as forecast by the National Meteorological Agency, indicates that the existing situation in the areas could worsen.

The drought has triggered arising level of migration by pastoralist communities in search of water and pasture for livestock in the Oromiya region.

At least 29 schools in Borena zone have been forced to close due to water shortage and 3,700 children have dropped out of full-time education.

Besides the situation in Oromiya Region, UN agencies
and humanitarian partners have reported the emergence of hotspots in Southern Nations Nationalities and Peoples Region (SNNPR).

The hotspots are in Gamogofa, Hadiya, Kenbata, Sidama, South Omo and Welayita zones.

OCHA said that the required relief was expected from government, humanitarian partners and UN agencies.

Referring to anon-the-ground report by field officers of the
World Food Programme (WFP), OCHA said that there was a rapid deterioration of the food security situation in East Hararghe zone.

 

(PANA/NAN)