Ethiopia, Kenya struggling to tackle flood, hunger

By Seleshi Tessema , Abebech Tamene, Magdalene Mukami

ADDIS ABABA/NAIROBI (AA) — As fears of flooding in Ethiopia and starvation in Kenya’s West Pokot County mount, communities, government officials and humanitarian agencies are struggling to cope with the impeding crises.

Ethiopia – the second most populous country in Sub-Saharan Africa, with an estimated 97-million-strong population, is also struggling with one of the worst droughts in 50 years.

The El Nino weather system triggered the droughts which have devastated crops in much of central, eastern and southern Ethiopia and have left 10.2 million people, over a tenth of the population, in need of food.

In Kenya, however, the drought is limited to West Pokot county in the Rift Valley and has pushed some 600,000 people to the brink of hunger, according to official figures.

-Heavy rains, heavy floods

Debebe Zewde, head of communications with Ethiopia’s National Disaster Risk Management Commission told Anadolu Agency: “After 18 months of battling drought, we are bracing for impeding flooding in all drought-hit regions.

“The heavy rains and flooding we anticipate throughout the main rainy season, June to September and beyond, could affect the lives of some 480,000 people,” he added.

Debebe said “some 198,000 of the stated number of people are estimated to be displaced due to the floods”.

The floods have already hit some areas, affecting aid-delivery systems and displacing communities, Debebe said.

“It has created an additional burden on humanitarian and government agencies and we are struggling to cope with two faces of El Nino”, he added.

Since mid-April some 200 people have been killed by floods and landslides; some 20,000 people have already been displaced, according to official figures.

The Ethiopian Red Cross Society (ERCS) has been providing supplementary food and non-food items to a portion (10 per cent) of 1.7 million malnourished children.

Dr. Solomon Ali, deputy secretary- general for Humanitarian Diplomacy and Resource Mobilization with ERCS told Anadolu Agency that they are now battling the impact of flooding:

“Currently, we are supplying shelter and blankets to flood victims; we undertake both tasks side-by-side, supporting the malnourished and assisting flood victims.”

Ibrahim Nur, a journalist with the Somali service of Radio Fana told Anadolu Agency that his family in eastern Ethiopia fear that floods could devastate communities already reeling from drought.

“They are ready for it but always tell me that they are scared for themselves and their livestock,” Nur said.

-On the brink of hunger

In Kenya’s West Pokot County, 450 kilometers [280 miles] north-west of the capital Nairobi, more than 600,000 people are on the brink of starvation due to prolonged drought.

Titus Lotee, West Pokot deputy governor, said that the lack of the usual rainy season in early March this year caused harvest failures and livestock deaths.

“We are on the brink of famine; food stocks that are supposed to sustain families ‘till another harvest are done,” he said.