Situation overview:
After floods displaced an estimated 70,000 people in Belet Weyne following the overflow of the Shabelle River in the past one month, displaced persons have begun to return to their homes as the water levels recede in the river. According to humanitarian partners and local authorities in Belet Weyne, an estimated 60-70 per cent has returned to their homes as of 9 June 2016. The delay in return of the remaining 30 to 40 per cent is due to their collapsed shelters and latrines and water-logged settlements. They are expected to return after waters recede further and their houses and settlements dry out. The start of the Hagaa cold season and the delivery of food aid to a majority of the displaced are driving the accelerated returns of displaced populations to their homes. The flood waters along the river caused extensive damage to crops in the surrounding areas of Belet Weyne and assessments are ongoing to establish the exact magnitude of damage.
Humanitarian impact and needs:
The floods damaged cultivated areas, which has compromised food security and livelihoods in Belet Weyne and surrounding areas. As displaced families begin to return to their homes and settlements, focus will shift towards rehabilitation of the damaged infrastructure such as water points, roads, schools, latrines irrigation canals as well as repair of broken river embankments for mitigation against future floods. The humanitarian partners and authorities are planning a post flood assessment to establish the extent of the damage and assistance needed to facilitate early recovery.
Food security partners have raised concern for the coming period due to damaged crops and poor performance of the Gu rains, which according to SWALIM gauges received just 82 mm during the Gu season. According to partners, the lower yielding dry season cultivation, which will begin shortly, is only expected to be harvested in August. The food security cluster in Belet Weyne reports the cost of cereal has more than doubled in the last few weeks up from US$0.7 to $1.5. This all leads to the potential for increased food insecurity should there be a delay or failure of the next Deyr rains
Humanitarian response:
The local community, authorities, civil society organizations and humanitarian partners have continued to scale up response to flood-affected populations in Belet Weyne and surrounding areas.
WASH: Apart from the response during the initial displacement, the WASH cluster partners are planning to shift their focus to the rehabilitation of collapsed pit latrines as well as engage with communities on hygiene promotion campaigns in areas where they have returned. Partners continue to supply clean portable water of over 50,000 litres per day, targeting more than 20,000 people daily. A total of 50 additional communal latrines were dug in the displacement areas to ensure increased hygiene and minimize the risk of water borne diseases including AWD/cholera. Hygiene kits and water purification tablets were distributed to over 30,000 people. An estimated 20,000 sand bags were distributed to help reinforce river banks and mitigate flood waters from affecting more settlements. The communities in collaboration with local authorities did join hands to strengthen weak river banks, low embankments and breakages in some sections of the river.
Health: The establishment of mobile health services in Banaaney, Ceel Jaale and Shiirkaneco while restoring the operations at Belet Weyne General Hospital by health cluster partners helped reduce and control the number of reported cases of watery diarrhoea that had impacted majority of the children during the first week of displacement. Belet Weyne hospital has seen chronic funding issues since the departure of MSF and damages caused by flood waters have exacerbated the situation.
Food Security and Nutrition: Food security partners conducted General Food Distribution (GFD) consisting of one month full ration to over 60,000 people while an additional 10,000 people received nutrition supplements to compliment the GFD. The food assistance figures are not definitive as there is a lack of certain information on private contributions from Djibouti. The food distribution mainly consisted of cereals, pulses and vegetable oil. The nutrition intervention to 10,000 targeted people included Corn Soya Blend (CSB) and a Blanket Supplementary Feeding Programme (BSFP) commodity of Plumpy Doz. The Somali Federal Government and the National Drought Committee have pledged a total of US$ 150,000 for food assistance to the flood affected population in Belet Weyne while a total of 500 HHs (3000 people) received unconditional cash relief for food assistance.
Shelter: Shelter cluster partners responded with NFI kits that reached an estimated 33,000 people with an additional 400 families (2400 people) receiving unconditional cash grants for NFI kits.
Protection: The establishment of a police post in Ceel Jaale, where the largest number of displaced concentrated and the increase in number on police patrols by the local authorities contributed to a reduction in the number of protection related cases, such as rape and GBV that have typically been recorded in similar situations of displacement. The protection cluster partners availed a total of 75 dignity kits that were distributed to various displacement centres.
Education: Education Cluster partners are currently conducting a rapid needs assessment to determine the degree of damage on school infrastructure. The main focus of the response is to support the Ministry of Education in conducting final exams and rehabilitate school facilities damaged by the floods prior to the reopening of schools in August.
Next steps As the flooded areas dry out and as more people return to their settlements, humanitarian partners are planning to conduct a post flood assessment so as to establish the magnitude of the damage caused by the floods for informed advocacy for early recovery. Those areas remaining with pools of stagnant water will need to be drained so as to reduce breeding grounds for disease vectors such as mosquitoes. There is need to work with the communities to rehabilitate the damaged shallow wells and other water points that are contaminated so as to curb the spread of water borne diseases such as AWD/cholera. Farmers whose farms and crops are damaged are in need of farm inputs including the rehabilitation of irrigation canals to enable them resume crop production for sustainable food security and livelihoods. Livestock and other domestic animals in the flooded areas of return may need vaccination and treatment due to increased vectors that causes animal diseases.
The perennial flood menace in Belet Weyne will need a long term solution by building and strengthening lasting river embankments. The rains of October and November are expected to bring more flooding in Belet Weyne associated with increased rains in the Ethiopian highlands that leads to flooding downstream along the Shabelle River.
Impact of flood waters downstream The timely advisories by SWALIM on potential flooding downstream enabled aerial and on the ground information gathering on humanitarian impact by OCHA and humanitarian partners further down the Shabelle River in various locations including Bulo Burto and Johwar. Humanitarian partners concluded that there is minimal impact by flooding downstream and local response capacity will suffice for most areas.
For SWALIM technical rainfall and flood update, please visit: http://www.faoswalim.org For more information or to receive our reports as attachment, contact: Tapiwa Gomo, Head of Communication, gomo@un.org, Tel (+254731043197) or Kenneth Odiwuor, odiwuor@un.org