Worst drought in 60 years hitting Horn Of Africa
source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/28/us-africa-drought-idUSTRE75R2JQ20110628
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- JanforGore
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More than 10 million people are now affected in drought-stricken areas of Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and Uganda and the situation is deteriorating, it said.
"Two consecutive poor rainy seasons have resulted in one of the driest years since 1950/51 in many pastoral zones," Elisabeth Byrs, spokeswoman of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, told a media briefing.
"There is no likelihood of improvement (in the situation)until 2012," she said.
Food prices have risen substantially in the region, pushing many moderately poor households over the edge, she said.
A U.N. map of food security in the eastern Horn of Africa shows large swathes of central Kenya and Somalia in the "emergency" category, one phase before what the U.N. classifies as catastrophe/famine -- the fifth and worst category.
Child malnutrition rates in the worst affected areas are more than double the emergency threshold of 15 percent and are expected to rise further, Byrs said.
High mortality rates among children are reported, but she had no figures for the toll.
Drought and fighting are driving ever greater numbers of Somalis from their homeland, with more than 20,000 arriving in Kenya in just the past two weeks, the U.N. refuge agency UNHCR said on Friday. It voiced alarm at the dramatic rise, noting the average monthly outflow had been about 10,000 so far this year.
Almost half the Somali children arriving in refugee camps in Ethiopia are malnourished, and those arriving in Kenya are little better, Byrs said.
U.N. humanitarian appeals for Somalia and Kenya, each about $525 million, are barely 50 percent funded, while a $30 million appeal for Djibouti is just 30 percent funded, she said.
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- Community, Green, Culture, Sustainable Agriculture, 3 more
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- tags:
- Environment, War, Drought, Somalia, 13 more
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Gravity_Man
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Blacks are a beautiful people on every continent they live. Keeping them down in America prevents them elsewhere from getting help. It's a strange situation because technically EVERY PERSON IN AMERICA SHOULD BE RICH.
When America continues using fuels (and nuclear) that drowns us in WASTES we have to devote our monies into WASTE CLEANUP EFFORTS THAT NEVER END. Essentially we are Rich! but our Riches then have to be turned aside into cleaning up our messes we made to be Rich so the End Result is we stay Poor for the most part.
Rich & Poor co-existing, co-eternal, two steps forward, two steps backward, every day. Sometimes tho a ray of light breaks through, called a Surplus, then we party til it's gone, leaving us to once again look at the world's dying and wonder Hmm, I wonder why no one does anything?
Then we suffer til it's time to party away another Surplus.
Yep, we're evolving. HAHAHAHA
- 11 months ago
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Gravity_Man
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JanforGore
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http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/podcast/episode.cfm?id=5401&cat=podcast
Reports are that the largest camp is now turning people away. This is a huge humanitarian disaster affecting roughly 10 million people partly being driven by this drought. But you aren't allowed to make the link to climate change, mainly because it is the developed world that is at fault as well for the amplification of the effects of climate change and they do not want to have to be accountable for it. What will the world community now do should this slip into a full fledged famine?
- 11 months ago
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JanforGore
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