Somalia

Somalia in numbers

• The IPC has predicted that around 4.3 million people are being affected by flooding, conflict and drought.
• Last year, around 43,000 people lost their lives to the food crisis in Somalia. Devastatingly, half of them were children under five. 
• Over 3 million people are struggling to access the food they need.
• At least 706,100 people in Somalia have been affected by the Indian Ocean Dipole and El Niño phenomena.

Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement response

The Somali Red Crescent (SRCS) has supported 500,000 people so far, including over 100,000 through clinics and mobile health clinics in the most affected areas.

A total of 36,949 children have been reached through nutrition screening services and 78,245 individuals with medical treatment services.

The SRCS are also supporting with financial assistance to buy food and essential items, providing clean water and immunisations to prevent the spread of disease amongst the worst affected areas.

And together with the ICRC, they are helping those displaced by conflict or drought to find out the fate or whereabouts of their loved ones. Almost 4,000 free phone calls have been facilitated to restore and help maintain family contact.

The SRCS are prioritising Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) services to communities affected by the ongoing drought. The WASH initiatives have reached 469,338 people, primarily through promotion campaigns.

In Somalia, the ICRC, in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture and private agri-businesses, supported cooperatives who are producing certified seeds for the first time in the over three decades.

The ICRC is also providing emergency financial assistance to families. So far, they have registered more than 900,000 people to receive this emergency assistance.

A stabilisation centre run by the ICRC in Baidoa has seen a five-fold increase in malnourished children needing care. Children admitted here die without this specialised nutritional care.

The climate crisis is triggering severe drought and flash floods in central Somalia. A quarter of a million people have had to flee their homes after the Shabelle River burst its banks and submerged the town of Beledweyne.

The flash floods in Somalia are happening while the country is going through the worst drought in 40 years. Rains have landed on parched soil and provoked the floods.

These twin emergencies are devastating affected communities. The water has washed away homes, crops and livestock and has disrupted local schooling and healthcare services.

The Somali Disaster Management Agency said the floods in Beledweyne alone have caused the displacement of more than 200,000 people and have affected 460,470 in total.

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