Commenting on Sky News Arabia, an environmental expert warns of the contradictory phenomena Somalia is witnessing. It left unbearable losses to the capacities of the country in crisis. This is what is happening, confirming the validity of the predictions that humanity will face more disasters than usual, if urgent measures are not taken. to limit global warming.
A May 15 United Nations report on floods in Somalia caused by the annual rains said they affected more than 460,000 people, of whom around 219,000 were displaced far from their homes.
The organization’s spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, said the floods devastated the whole country, submerging homes and farmland and washing away livestock.
In Hirshabelle state, one of the hardest hit areas, the flooding of the Shebelle River has forced thousands of people to move to higher ground amid warnings of an outbreak of diseases. waterborne.
A harbinger of the world
Environmental expert Ayman Kaduri, a member of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, explains what the succession of droughts and floods means in Somalia:
Climate change does not mean the dominance of a climatic phenomenon over the weather of a region, and the disappearance of the rest of the phenomena, but rather the appearance of an unfamiliar disturbance of the phenomenon, which repeats and amplifies . What Somalia is experiencing in terms of the floods that have swept through the center and south of the country does not mean the end of the drought crisis from which it is suffering. This portends even greater catastrophes awaiting humanity, unless they are remedied in the near future. The Horn of Africa is ranked among the most vulnerable regions to climate change, especially in the absence of precautionary government measures to deal with natural disasters such as floods. This government weakness is the result of political and security instability, as has happened in Somalia for decades, and the lack of necessary service efforts and infrastructure. This exacerbated the consequences of the crisis and turned it into a humanitarian disaster, causing the displacement of 200,000 people.
preparation plan
United Nations spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the organization is implementing with its partners a national flood preparedness and response plan for Somalia, which is as follows: worth 2.6 billion, only 25% funded so far. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the United Nations World Food Program sent early warning text messages to 5,000 farmers in the affected areas. FAO and partners have provided sandbags, shovels and other supplies to help clean sewers and mitigate flooding. The World Food Program is sending 17 tons of high-energy biscuits and boats to reach people in flooded areas. Somalia has been experiencing, in some of its regions, severe drought for months, a consequence of the scarcity of rainfall for the fifth consecutive season. This forced about one and a half million people to flee in search of water in other places inside the country, and the death of thousands of people.
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