Tuesday May 12, 2020
MOGADISHU (HOL) - Over 200,000 people have been displaced in Somalia with half of the displacements recorded in Beletweyne as rivers Shabelle and Jubba break their banks amid sustained rainfall in recent weeks.
The UN humanitarian agency OCHA said in an update Monday 216,895 people have been displaced and 16 killed, in 27 districts.
“The most affected district is Belet Weyne in Hiran region, where riverine flooding caused by a sharp rise in water levels on River Shabelle, has displaced an estimated 115,140 people,” OCHA said.
The floods, OCHA said have affected over 500,000 people with slightly over 100,000 only reached by humanitarian agencies.
Hundreds of families have left their homes in Beletwyene with the most displacements recorded in Buundoweyn, Hawlwadaag, Haawo Taako and Kooshin villages.Hiiraan region governor Ali Jeyte Osman Monday called for long term solutions to the perennial flooding in the region which displaces thousands every year resulting in human and economic losses.
“We are not refugees; we don’t need handouts every time. What we want is development aid, assistance,” said Jeyte as more families fled their homes in Beletweyne.
MORE RAIN
OCHA has warned of more rain in the coming week in the Juba and Shabelle river basins, while there will be a slight reduction in the northern regions.
The flooding comes barely seven months after a similar catastrophe displaced over 300,000 people and killed scores of others in Beletweyne and the Jubba riverine zones.
The Federal Government delivered its pledge of $500,000 and Djibouti government’s contribution of $600,000 Sunday to HirShabelle state over seven months after the floods in Beletweyne.
HOL had earlier reported the government had not honoured its pledge and neither did it remit some of the donations from well-wishers.
A source privy to the aid management told HOL the $1.5 million donated by the government of China to aid the Beletweyne floods efforts was used to offset the legal fees for lawyers representing Somalia in the maritime case with Kenya.