IRIN
SOMALIA: Floods add to IDP misery in Lower Shabelle
9 October 2008


NAIROBI, 9 October 2008 (IRIN) - Thousands of internally displaced 
persons (IDPs) living in camps in and around Somalia's southern port 
town of Marka have been left without shelter after heavy rains pounded 
the area, officials said.

"We had 10 hours of very heavy rains on Monday that destroyed almost all 
the shelter for the displaced," said Mahamud Dahir, head of the 
humanitarian affairs for Lower Shabelle. "Many of the temporary shelters 
have been washed away."

At least 1,500 IDP families (9,000 people) are affected in Marka, 100km 
south of the capital Mogadishu.

"The families in the Buulo Ba' ad camp have lost everything," he said. 
"There is not a single shelter left."

Dahir said some of those affected sought refuge with other families in 
other camps around the area.

"Their lives were already precarious, now they are out there in the open 
and we don't have much to help them with," Dahir said.

He said many of the IDPs arrived recently following an upsurge in the 
fighting in the capital. "We have registered thousands of newly 
displaced from Mogadishu in the past two weeks."

The Lower Shabelle region was already hosting hundreds of thousands of 
IDPs from Mogadishu.

Regional medical officer Abdirahman Abdullahi Abdi told IRIN the health 
of the displaced was deteriorating.

"The heavy rains, with wind, have combined with lack of shelter and lack 
of adequate food to have a negative impact on their health."

Abdi said an increase in illnesses and diseases, such as diarrhoea and 
respiratory diseases, had been recorded, mainly among children and the 
elderly.

Sanitation has also become a major concern. "We have tens of thousands 
of people with too few latrines and now the rains and the winds have 
destroyed some of those," he said.

Abdi said cases of malnutrition had increased. "We are getting more and 
more malnourished children."

Dahir said providing shelter, food and water to the displaced was a 
priority. "We need to get them some form of shelter urgently before it 
is too late."

He said the rains were still pounding the area, adding: "The more they 
remain in the open the more likely [it is] that many will die."

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) reported that torrential rains and strong 
winds had also hit a string of settlements for hundreds of thousands of 
IDPs between Mogadishu and Afgooye, destroying makeshift shelters and 
leaving many homeless once again.

"Initial reports indicate that rains and wind mainly struck IDP 
settlements in the Kurtunwarrey district, near Afgooye, and in Marka 
district near Mogadishu," said the agency in a statement on 7 October.

UNHCR said it would distribute 3,500 assistance kits for 21,000 people. 
The kits contain plastic sheeting, blankets, kitchen sets and sleeping 
mats.

The sudden and heavy flooding has exacerbated the already difficult 
circumstances in war-torn Somalia, where over 1.1 million people are 
displaced.

Some 700,000 people fled Mogadishu in 2007 alone. Since the beginning of 
2008, another 170,000 have fled the capital, including at least 35,000 
in recent weeks, according to UNHCR.

More people are fleeing fighting in the city described as the worst 
since the beginning of the latest insurgency in February 2007.

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