OCHA Situation Report
Ethiopia: Drought/Food Crisis
11 August 2008


Source:
UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

Highlights:

- Humanitarian crisis shows little sign of stabilisation and continuing 
shortfalls in resources and supplies persist

- Special Committee on the Somali Region prepares action plan for 
strengthened delivery of humanitarian assistance in the region.

Humanitarian Overview

Current Context

The humanitarian crisis in Ethiopia shows little sign of stabilisation 
despite the concerted efforts of government and humanitarian partners to 
address the needs of people hit hardest by drought and acute food 
insecurity. People are struggling to ensure that their families have 
enough to eat but the failure of seasonal crops, loss of livestock and 
spiraling cost of food in local markets have left many with no other 
option but to rely upon assistance from the humanitarian community. The 
capacity of the humanitarian community to reach all of those in need of 
assistance has been undermined by considerable shortfalls in resources and 
supplies required to respond comprehensively to the current crisis. 
Government and humanitarian partners require immediate additional 
assistance from the international community to avert further deterioration 
of the situation.

The devastating impact of the crisis can be observed in drought-affected 
regions across the country including the Somali Region where the long dry 
season is setting in following the successive failure of rains. In 
addition to the delivery of humanitarian assistance to existing hotspot 
regions, the government and humanitarian partners are seeking to rapidly 
strengthen the delivery of humanitarian assistance during the critical 
period that lies ahead. The establishment of the Special Committee on the 
Somali Committee is one vital component of the overall strategy to 
scale-up humanitarian operations in response to drought and food crisis in 
the Somali Region. The Special Committee has developed an action plan for 
the coordinated delivery of emergency humanitarian relief on the basis of 
plans devised by the health and nutrition, emergency water and sanitation 
and agriculture and livestock Task Forces. The priority is now to 
translate these plans into tangible action on the ground and to support 
all humanitarian actors to deliver much-needed assistance to vulnerable 
groups as soon as possible.

Attachments:
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/retrieveattachments?openagent&docid=FDA8AB395EDB67C12574A3004CC791&file=Full_Report.pdf

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