(ERGO) – Around 900 families who were displaced by the flooding of the river Juba in southern Somalia’s Bardere district say they have been abandoned without any support after losing everything.
Deynabo Muhumed, a mother of 13, has been living with her family in Liban IDP camp in Bardere since they were displaced in April. They are sleeping in huts made of cartons and clothes, which give no protection from the elements. They lack food and other basic necessities.
“We need food, water, shelter, and health care. We eat just one meal a day and that is only porridge; it is not enough, but that is all we have,” Deynabo told Radio Ergo.
She often has to venture into town trying to find jobs like washing clothes or collecting and selling firewood, just to secure a meal for the family.
Deynabo’s family relied on their five hectare rain-fed farm in Hanyaley village for a living. But all their crops and farming tools and equipment worth 27 million Somali shillings (equivalent to $1,038) were destroyed in the floods that struck this area of Gedo region, some seven kilometres outside Bardere town.
It will be some time before they can return and do the hard work of clearing the farm of flood debris in order to plant new crops.
“We’re getting closer to the rainy season and being in this flimsy shelter l worry how we will survive the rains. I don’t have any other place to go to,” she said.
Ali Abdi Hussein, a father of nine, is also living in Liban IDP camp and serves as its leader. The floods displaced his family from their vegetable farm near Shimbirole village. All their crops were washed away.
He told Radio Ergo that his two daughters try to earn some cash for the family whenever they can get work as housemaids in town.
“We are living in a very difficult situation. We eat once a day since we don’t have enough food, and work is tough and hard to come by,” said Ali.
The family was living comfortably before, as were others now displaced from various villages in Bardere district. The family-owned farms normally supply vegetables and other food crops to Bardere town.
Fadum Aden is also living in Liban IDP camp after she and her family were flooded out of their house and farm in Damballey village.
“The waters hit us around 10 at night. We fled with the kids, leaving all our belongings behind,” she said.
“We lost everything, including the crops we were hoping to harvest, the irrigation pumps and other assets. I don’t know when we will recover from the tragedy that brought us to this camp.”
The head of humanitarian affairs at Bardere district, Abdullahi Ismail Nur, has appealed to aid organisations to assist the displaced families. He warned that their situation would deteriorate, making it harder to recover.
