Friday, December 08, 2006
By Matthew Lee
The UN refugee agency UNHCR said its Dadaab complex of three camps, where more than 100 000 of 160 000 residents have been left without shelter due to the floods, had been struck again with downpours after a brief respite.
"After a break of some five days, heavy showers have started falling again in Dadaab, causing new flooding," it said in a statement released in Nairobi.
"Some parts of the camps are inaccessible and the fresh rains have led to the further deterioration of roads within the camps," it said.
At least three Somali refugees at Dadaab, about 470 kilometres north-east of Nairobi, have died in the floods that began in late October, crippling large swathes of Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia.
A total of 251 people have been killed in the three countries by the floods, man-eating crocodiles and waterborne diseases, while hundreds of thousands have been displaced and more than a million affected, officials say.
The World Health Organisation said Friday it was "deeply concerned by the health situation" in the Horn of Africa where up to 1,8 million people are at risk of diseases such as cholera, measles, malaria, as well as malnutrition.
"The floods are expected to continue until at least the end of December if not into early next year," said Dr David Okello, the WHO representative in Kenya.
"We are already experiencing a serious situation where people are dying from diseases related to the water and sanitation situation," he said in a statement. "Malaria will become a very serious problem in the weeks to come."
The three countries now hit by floods were at the epicentre of a recent scorching drought from which they were just recovering when the rains began that exacerbated the damage from the floods.
"Due to previous droughts, people in the region have experienced severe food shortages and high rates of malnutrition," WHO said.
"People's immunity is weakened, making them more vulnerable to diseases."
Relief agencies have made urgent appeals for aid, including the UNHCR, which said the US military had begun airdropping assistance to the Dadaab refugees at its request on Friday, 24 hours earlier than expected.
UN and US officials confirmed that a US Air Force C-130 transport plane from the Djibouti-based Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa had started the first of about 15 planned flights over Dadaab to deliver 240 tons of aid.
The supplies include plastic sheets, blankets and mosquito nets and the emergency airdrops are to continue until Wednesday, UNHCR said.
Dadaab has been cut off for weeks since the unusually heavy seasonal rains washed away major parts of the only road connecting the remote area near the Somali border with Nairobi, it said.
Air drops are necessary since the small Dadaab airstrip cannot take the weight of a heavy plane like a C-130, it said.
Standing water at the camps has also raised fears of water-borne diseases and respiratory infections, further compounding the misery of the refugees, many of whom fled drought and conflict in Somalia.
Source: AFP, Dec 08, 2006