More than 2.1 million people are at risk of chronic hunger due to drought happening in Ethiopia’s Somali region, the region’s Disaster and Risk Management Commissioner has said.
Dr. Abdulfetah Bihi Monday said the drought has resulted in lack of access to safe drinking water, people unable to meet their basic needs, diminishing herds and dying of livestock.
The drought hit some zones of the region worst including Siti zone where livestock particularly goats have died of the drought, the commissioner said.
He said the regional government is doing all under its capacity to tackle the impacts of the drought and will consider shifting the budget of the development activities of the region to deal with the drought.
In a bi-weekly humanitarian bulletin report, the UNOCHA confirmed that 2.1 million drought-affected people in the Somali regional state need humanitarian assistance.
The UNOCHA disclosed the drying up of traditional water sources as well as the availability of limited functional water boreholes in the drought-affected areas, has meant water trucking schemes are urgently needed.
MG/abj/APA