(ERGO) – Ifrah Isse Ali, a pregnant mother living in one of the Somali capital’s squalid internal displacement camps, lost several members of her family including her elder sister in the heavy rainfall and flooding that has been battering Mogadishu.
Ifrah’s sister Leyla and three of Leyla’s children were killed when a wall adjacent to their home in Al-adalla IDP camp in Deynile district of the city collapsed in the force of flood water on 12 May. Leyla’s husband and a brother were also injured in the incident.
Ifrah said her 35-year-old sister Leyla was like a mother figure, and was also the main income earner for the entire family. Leyla washed clothes for households earning 130,000 Somali shillings (around $5) every two days. She used to support her two parents and 10 siblings from her earnings.
“We are all demoralised by her death. She was the first born in our family, who filled for us the position of both an elder brother and sister. We depended on her for food and now that she is no more, we are living in hardship,” Ifrah told Radio Ergo.
Ifrah, who is nine months pregnant, said her condition meant she was unable now to take on a job to provide for her family. She was divorced eight months ago and her former husband has not been supporting her with the upkeep of their five children.
Their family is eating just one meal a day, donated to them by neighbours in the camp. They live in a poorly built shelter that provides no protection against the rain and winds.
Aamin Hassan Mohamed, another camp resident, has lost two sons in disasters this month. His son, Mohamed, 19, died in the same flooding incident as Ifrah’s relatives.
“My 19-year-old son was crushed by a wall that fell on him and he died on the spot,” Aamin told Radio Ergo.
“I don’t have a job, I depended on my son who died for financial support.”
Mohamed used to earn 50,000 Somali shillings ($1.92) a day working as a shoe shiner. He used the money to help the family cook twice a day. The family of four children, their mother and father are now surviving on food given to them by their neighbours once a day.
The tragedy struck just four days after Aamin’s 12-year-old son died after being electrocuted by a faulty wire.
The chairlady of Al-adalla IDP camp, Sahro Ali, confirmed to Radio Ergo that the floods had killed seven people in the camp and injured four others.
“The IDPs were already living in a dire situation and the floods worsened things for them. Their houses have been demolished and everything they had has been washed by the floods. They survive on food given to them by their neighbours once a day,” Sahro said.
Nearly 50 families have been left without shelter. Ten of them were given plastic bags and sticks by the camp residents to make themselves a shelter.
Some of the displaced families told Radio Ergo’s reporter that they did not have enough food and their flimsy shelters left them fearful that they might not survive further heavy rainfall.
