At least six people have died of hunger and thirst related causes in drought-hit villages near Elwak district, Gedo region.
Elwak drought committee chairman Farah Maalim warned that more people could die in the coming weeks if they did not receive emergency assistance.
“If aid agencies do not move in quickly to help local herders whose livestock have been devastated by the drought, several others will face similar situation,” he said.
The drought committee started trucking in drinking water for people in 20 villages including Fafah-dun, Gariley and Qura-Joma in response to the acute shortage of water in those areas.
“What we saw in some of the villages where we distributed water was shocking. We saw severely malnourished children, weak elderly people who couldn’t even stand up because of starvation. There were also disease outbreaks,” he said.
Large numbers of livestock have died in the drought, causing many pastoralists families to flee to other areas.
In a recent statement, the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWSNET) warned of a severe food crisis in the northern parts of Gedo region, and urged increased levels of humanitarian food aid to rural areas.
FEWSNET director for Somalia, Abdullahi Khalif, told Radio Ergo that pastoralists had started fleeing to Bay and Juba regions in search of food and water.
“Most of the people in this region herd and sell animals for a living, but now animals are getting progressively weaker and sicker, and no one is going to buy them,” he said.
He also said there were fears that if the affected areas received heavy rains, many weak animals would die as result of the cold.
