OCHA Situation Report No. 7
Ethiopia: Flooding in Somali Region
28 November 2006


This report is based on information received from OCHA Ethiopia.

Situation

There has been no rain for the last few days in Gode Zone, and roads are
starting to dry up. Road access, however, remains a challenge as flood
damages are in need of essential repair and maintenance.

As of Thursday 23 November, water levels in Mustahil remained one meter
high. There are indications that the water has begun to recede as the
population has started to migrate back to the town in the hope of
salvaging what remains. The floods have rendered hygiene and sanitation
conditions deplorable in the town increasing the risk of communicable
disease. Access to food has, however, increased from both WFP food
supply trucks and supplies provided by Somali family-ties. People from
Ferfer have begun to arrive in Mustahil by foot to access food supplies.

The expected helicopters have been delayed due to unexpected
difficulties on route to Ethiopia. They are now expected to be
operational in Gode on Thursday 30 November. The first flight will be a
reconnaissance-mission for the pilots. Subject to approval, UN agencies
would also like to perform ad hoc aerial assessment by key-personnel
simultaneously. Each additional flight will be utilised for prioritised
relief deliveries.

National and International Response

MSF Belgium left for Kelafo and Mustahil on 24 November to perform basic
ad hoc health-assessments in the area. The findings are still pending.

Water purification units supplied by UNICEF and operated by their
implementing partner Ogaden Welfare and Development Association (OWDA)
in Kelafo and Mustahil are now operational. The units will provide 40 -
60 m=B3of potable water per day. In addition, UNICEF has two water
purification units in Dolo Odo that can be delivered to East Imi woreda
once road accessibility improves. Access is currently impossible due to
impassable roads.

The ad-hoc assessment mission of the local authorities and UNICEF to
East and West Imi is expected to be completed by the end of this week.

The trucks distributing WFP/Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Agency
food supplies to Mustahil and Kelafo have unloaded most of their cargo.
In Kelafo, sixteen of the twenty-one distribution points have now
received food.

International NGO Merlin has opened two Community Treatment Centres
(CTC) for the treatment of Acute Watery Diarrhoea (AWD) in West Imi
woreda. One is located in West Imi town and the other 7 kms outside of
the town.

The Gode Joint Task Force has divided into the following three
sub-committees:

1. Logistics, Food and Non-Food Items

2. WATSAN, Health and Nutrition

3. Agriculture and Livestock

The sub-committees will commence this week and report back to the full
Taskforce in general coordination meetings every Tuesday from 5 December
2006.


|------------------+---------------------+------------------|
| Logistics, Food  | WATSAN, Health &    |  Agriculture &   |
|     and NFI      | Nutrition           |    Livestock     |
|------------------+---------------------+------------------|
|      Chair:      | Chair:              |      Chair:      |
|       DPPB       | Health Bureau       |  Agriculture &   |
|                  |                     | Livestock Bureau |
|                  |                     |    (LECNRDBC)    |
|------------------+---------------------+------------------|
| Facilitator: WFP | Facilitator: UNICEF | Facilitator:FAO  |
|------------------+---------------------+------------------|
|Participants:     |Participants:        |                  |
|   - DPPA         |   - DPPA            |                  |
|   - UNDSS        |   - DPPB            |                  |
|   - UNICEF       |   - CHF             |                  |
|   - OCHA         |   - OWDA            |                  |
|   - FAO          |   - AD Horn         |                  |
|                  |   - OCHA            |                  |
|                  |   - ADRA            |                  |
|                  |   - MSF Belgium     |                  |
|Stakeholders in   |Stakeholders in      |Stakeholders in   |
|sector            |sector               |sector            |
|------------------+---------------------+------------------|


UNICEF has prepositioned eight health-kits, also containing drugs in
Gode. Nine additional health kits along with two cholera-kits are
expected next week.

UNICEF has 2,000 NFI-kits also containing 300 BP5-units in storage in
Gode allocated for Mustahil, West and East Imi. These are planned to be
used when severe cases of malnutrition are identified.

Last week, the Gode Joint Task Force recommended the reallocation of 220
MT of cereal, currently in WFP-storage, from Mustahil to West and East
Imi. Following further review, however, the Task Force recommends the
reallocation of only 110 MT to East Imi as West Imi is expected to
receive supplies from Nazareth by DPPA. In addition to the stock
originally destined for Mustahil, 60 MT of lentils, 15 MT of oil, and 3
MT of high-energy food is recommended for reallocation to East Imi.

The Task Force also recommends utilizing the expected helicopters to
transport supplies to East Imi, and not only to Mustahil as originally
envisaged.

In Jijiga, the Regional Health Bureau has allocated 5,000 mosquito nets
for Kelafo, 10,000 for Ferfer and 15,000 for Mustahil.

OCHA/UNDAC has established desk support in the UNICEF compound in Gode,
and will also establish a front-desk for coordination and
information-management purposes in the WFP-compound.

Gaps in the response

The flooding continues to aggravate the existing Acute Watery Diarrhoea
(AWD) situation in the region with high case fatality rates reported.
Since the onset of the floods, competition over existing allocated
resources including essential drugs continues to hinder effective
response.

The lack of transport and accessibility to affected areas continue to
hinder relief efforts. The transport of food out of Mustahil in
particular has faced challenges. WFP has been unable to mobilise the
number of pack-animals needed for the operation.  In either case, the
Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Agency (DPPA) is concerned that the
use of pack-animals for distribution of commodities in Mustahil and
Kelafo could lead to looting. WFP is now trying to mobilise small
vehicles that can transport food commodities out to kebeles that have
not received any assistance. Other areas that have not received any
assistance to date are West and East Imi woredas and the western part of
Gode zone.

Telephone: +41-22-917 12 34
   Fax: +41-22-917 00 23
   E-mail: ochagva@un.org

In case of emergency only: Tel.   +41-22-917 20 10

Desk Officers
  GVA - Mr. Martijn Viersma
    E-mail: viersmam@un.org
    Direct Tel.+41-22-917 1518
  NYC - Ms. Olla Hassan
    E-mail: hassano@un.org
    Direct Tel. + 1-917 367 4331

Press contact:
  GVA - Ms. Elizabeth Byrs, Tel. +41-22-917 26 53
  NYC - Ms. Stephanie Bunker, Tel. +1-917-367 51 26

OCHA Ethiopia
Mr. Fidele Sarassoro, Humanitarian Coordinator
   E-mail: fidele.sarassoro@undp.org, Tel. +251-11-544 44 83

Mr. Paul Hebert, Head of Office, OCHA
   E-mail: hebert@un.org, Tel: +251-11-551 37 25

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Appropriate Donations for International Disaster/Humanitarian Needs
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Center for International              web: www.cidi.org
    Disaster Information          listserv: www.cidi.org/listsub.htm
                                guidelines: www.cidi.org/donate.htm
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -