The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has warned that more than 800,000 people in Somalia may be forced to flee their homes in the coming three months due to expected floods. New estimates issued by the organization and the Danish Refugee Council indicate that 874,319 people could be displaced between October and December, with 92 percent of the expected displacement attributed to floods.
In this context, Manuel Marques Pereira, head of the IOM mission in Somalia, said there is a possibility that hundreds of thousands of people could lose their homes within a few weeks. He added that many of these families had been displaced before and had very little left to rely on, noting that the opportunity to mitigate the impact was shrinking due to a lack of resources.
For his part, Pereira clarified that the organization had managed to secure only 14 percent of the $16.62 million needed to prepare for El Niño-related floods. He pointed out that signs of flooding were beginning to appear, with rivers approaching flood levels and some homes damaged by heavy rains, raising fears of crop destruction and water source contamination.
The UN World Meteorological Organization indicated that the current El Niño phenomenon could be unprecedented in its intensity. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs noted that Somalia, Ethiopia, and Kenya need supplies in the coming two weeks before heavy rains fall.
Predictions of rainfall exceeding normal levels continue in Somalia, a situation that will worsen due to the intensification of the El Niño climate phenomenon, threatening to cut off access to basic services.
Source: Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA)
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