The United Nations Asks For Urgent Funds To Handle Human Tragedy In Somalia

The United Nations (OCHA) Humanitarian Affairs Coordinating Office asks urgent humanitarian funds to help Somalia hit by a severe drought, where half of the population is at risk of losing aid critically to their lives due to lack of funds.

OCHA said the Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) for this year was only sufficient to fund 30.5 percent (US $ 793 million or around Rp. 11.9 trillion) until around the middle of the year, while US $ 2.6 billion (around Rp. 38.9 trillion) was needed for the needs of 7.6 million Somali people.

"Given the huge humanitarian need, additional funds are urgently needed to provide life-saving assistance," the organization said in a statement.

The situation in the Horn of Africa will worsen if emergency aid does not reach those in need, especially in the Hiraan agro-pastoral area, the city area, and the Belet Weyne refugee camps, as well as grazing areas in central Somalia, according to the organization.

Somalia is the country most affected by drought, displaced millions of people and killed around 43 thousand people.

The impact of the devastation from the worst drought that has hit the country over the past 40 years has now been added to the flood disaster.

Earlier this month, two girls drowned in an overflow of flooding in eastern Jowhar, the central state administrative capital Hirsha Belle.

Floods displaced 9,600 people in several villages in Balcad, a city 40 kilometers from the capital Mogadishu.

According to OCHA, 11 villages in South West State were submerged earlier this month, leaving 14,400 people displaced and swept away the fields, while rain continued to fall in the country's northern and southern coastal areas.

The organization warned that El Nino and the Dipol Samudra Indies were positive, expected to cause heavy rains and floods in October, especially along the rivers of Shabelle and Juba.