News: Flooding kills 45 people in Somali region, causes “widespread destruction” in Ethiopia: UN
Addis Abeba – The UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has reported that flood has caused a widespread destruction of properties and displacement of people in a significant part of Ethiopia including Somali, Oromia, Southern Nations Nationalities & Peoples, South West Ethiopia Peoples and the Afar regions.
In a report published on Monday, OCHA has disclosed that 45 people were killed, more than 35,000 households were displaced, over 23,000 livestock were perished and more than 99,000 hectares of farmland has been destroyed in the Somali Region alone as of 12 May.
Despite the lifesaving efforts exerted by the Ethiopian government and humanitarian partners to ease the situation, the assistance has remained inadequate compared to the scale of needs in those affected areas, the report stated.
According to the report, the flooding has deepened the vulnerability of populations with high resilience due to the impact of a prolonged drought since 2020 which also exacerbated health risks, including cholera and measles.
The report also highlighted the widespread cholera outbreak that has continued in those regions, and said 6,157 cases and 94 deaths were identified between 27 August and 07 May 2023.
Early April, Addis Standard reported that sudden flooding that is accompanied by Cholera outbreak have become detrimental to the lives and livelihood of the mostly pastoralist community in Dawa zone of the Somali region, South-Eastern Ethiopia. AS
