Thursday 13 October 2011

Heavy rains have flooded the meagre shelters of nearly 2,800 people living in the city's Sigale camp. Two children were killed by surging waters, another is missing, and a pregnant mother died in the chaos as families sought shelter from the downpour.

Thousands of hungry and desperate people have arrived in the Somali capital over recent months, fleeing food shortages caused by a terrible drought in East Africa. Many have settled in makeshift camps in areas vulnerable to flooding.

Over half of the children in the Somali capital are malnourished due to the food crisis, and aid workers fear that their weakened state will leave them vulnerable to deadly diseases associated with unclean water. 

Heartbreaking

The arrival of the autumn rains in Mogadishu signals an alleviation of the drought, but will pose new threats to families living without adequate shelter in atrocious conditions. 

“It is heartbreaking to see that children who are struggling without enough to eat are now being caught up in rushing waters, sitting out in the rain all night, and risking contracting diseases such as cholera and typhoid,” said Sonia Zambakides, head of Save the Children’s emergency response programme in Somalia.

“We have over 60 staff working around the clock to keep them safe, but we don’t have the funding to do everything we need to, like installing drainage systems so people aren’t living in standing water, and providing people with better shelter,” Zambakides said. “The rains are going to get worse, and we must provide help to these families as this crisis enters a new phase.”  

Bracing for more deaths

Children have been hit particularly hard by the crisis. According to FSNAU, the official organisation that evaluates malnutrition in Somalia, the child mortality rate in Mogadishu is estimated to be at seven-and-a-half times the emergency threshold. 

Hassan Ali Noor, an elder living in Sigale camp, said that residents were bracing for more rain-related deaths.  “These people have no hope in life if they are to stand what they experienced last night,” he said. “As you can see there are already three dead people as a result of the destruction caused by the rains and if it goes like this we will experience many more deaths.”

Save the Children, with Somali partner Centre for Peace and Democracy, has been delivering lifesaving food, water, medical care and sanitation facilities to 42,000 people in Mogadishu, as well as working in other areas of south central Somalia, Puntland, Somaliland, Kenya and Ethiopia.