November 09, 2015

Somalian flood puts tens of thousands at risk

editor:	Gurmeet Singh

Somalia, a failed state, ravaged by war and conflict, is now suffering another disaster: flooding. In the past, it has suffered from drought and top-soil being washed away, and now, more than 90,000 people have been affected by extreme flooding.

The south of the country, which still suffers from civil war is thought to be the hardest hit region. The UN office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says the number of displaced people is at a monumental 42, 000.

The floods have come as a shock to locals, who have little infrastructure to provide weather warnings, and have no governmental contingency plans when dealing with displacement. They must simply improvise, leave their homes, and take with them what they can. The extent of the economic damage to property, farms and cattle is not yet known – and is harder to estimate because of the nature of the typical climate. The climate of Somalia is much drier, and the much of the land is desert or scrub.

This year’s flood have been caused by El Nino – the natural ocean current which develops periodically in the Pacific Ocean, and causes the sea surface temperatures to be slightly warmer than usual.

Somalia is one of the world’s forgotten countries. It doesn’t seem to matter much to people that another batch of locals are displaced; for so long the country has churned out refugees and migrants, and that a simple climate disaster seems par for the course. Plus with so little settled government within the nation, people don’t have the administrative guidance and procedures in place to manage an event such as this one. But this just isn’t right.

A major national resolution to help displaced people is totally unlikely, and Somalia has to rely on outside interventions to help local people. Concern is just one organization where you can pledge your help.