OCHA Situation Report
Somalia: Floods
4 December 2006


Source: UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

Main Developments

The Humanitarian Coordinator travelled to Mogadishu on 3 December to 
meet with members of the ICU Flood and Emergency Relief Committee to 
discuss ongoing flood response operations and coordination mechanisms in 
the field. Among the issues discussed was the upcoming helicopter 
operation in South/Central Somalia, which will provide much-needed 
logistical support to relief operations. All present at the meeting 
agreed on the need for increased coordination and communication between 
local authorities and operational agencies. Better information-sharing 
regarding UN and NGO response to flooding within South/Central is 
essential.

Preliminary findings from a multi-agency rapid needs assessment during 
the last week in November covering 26 out of 39 flood-affected villages 
of Jilib and Jamame has reported that almost all riverside villages of 
the two districts are either flooded or surrounded by the floodwater. 
Access remains a serious problem, as roads to almost all riverine 
villages in the two districts have been impassable for over a month. (16 
villages of Jilib district remain inaccessible even by boat.) Total 
estimated flood-affected households are 9,677 in Jilib and 4,925 in 
Jamame. The threat of further flooding remains in Jamame district, due 
to large amounts of floodwater from Buale and Gedo regions returning to 
the Juba River at Jamame. Priority needs of flood-affected populations 
are shelter, food, health, and water/sanitation.

According to WHO, as of the end of November, the number of malaria and 
diarrheoal cases are on the increase in flood-affected areas of Hiran, 
Lower Shabelle, Lower and Middle Juba and, to some extent, in Gedo and 
the Dinsor district of Bay. WHO is stepping-up the establishment of 
mobile outreach health teams in flood-affected regions in Bardera and 
El-wak (Gedo) and Beletweyne (Hiran) through the African Muslim Agency, 
IMC, WVI, Muslim Aid UK, COSV and INTERSOS.

The forecast for the coming days is for moderate to heavy rains in the 
upper Shabelle catchment of Ethiopia. Most of southern Somalia is 
expected to have light to moderate rains, except for Gedo and the 
central to northern coastal regions, which can expect moderate to heavy 
rains.

Developments Along the Shabelle River

Beletweyne (Hiran) - Another 490mt of food that had been on its way from 
Mogadishu to Beletweyne has now been delivered by CARE and is being 
distributed.

Bulo Burti (Hiran) - DRC delivered mosquito nets, blankets and plastic 
sheets on 2 December. Throughout Hiran region, the local ICU committee 
is continuing water trucking. In the last couple of days, International 
Islamic Relief Organization (IIRO) and LNGO ZAMZAM have distributed food 
aid, plastic sheeting and clothing in Hiran region.

Jowhar/Mahaday (Middle Shabelle) - The ICU flood committee began during 
the weekend to distribute food (dates, maize, sugar, rice, oil) and 
clothes to villages in Jowhar and Mahaday districts.

Balad (Middle Shabelle) - Qatar Red Crescent (QRC) have brought medical 
supplies and will employ three local doctors in Balad to carry out heath 
service interventions in cooperation with SRCS. The agency has also 
donated two air shipments of food aid and medicine to the ICU Flood and 
Emergency Relief Committee.

Coordination

All partners operational in flood-affected regions are encouraged to 
access on-line SWALIM and UNOSAT maps and to print these maps as needed 
for distribution in the field.

http://www.faoswalim.org/viewpage.php?PageID=bf88c2a7f49ef5e5d35f474df4464d25


http://unosat.web.cern.ch/unosat/asp/prod_free.asp?id=28

For further information, contact:

Molly McCloskey or Rita Maingi at +254 (20) 375 4150-5

Agencies and partners are encouraged to send updates and information 
from field reports to: Matthew Olins olins@un.org and Molly McCloskey 
mccloskeym@un.org

OCHA SOMALIA - 7th Floor, Kalson Towers, Crescent Street, off Parklands 
Road, P.O. Box 28832, 00200 Nairobi, Kenya Tel No:  (254-20) 3754150-5; 
Fax No: (254-20) 3754156 http://ochaonline.un.org/somalia

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