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American Red Cross Responds to Floods in Ethiopia
Suma Pathy, Special to RedCross.org
Wednesday, October 18, 2006 — In a country where severe droughts are the norm, rains should have been a blessing. Tragically, this year’s unprecedented floods in Ethiopia killed hundreds of people and displaced thousands more.
The flooding has affected about 363,000 people, with an estimated 145,000 displaced in seven of the country’s nine regions. Ethiopia's northern Amhara region was the worst-hit in the nation with 97,000 people affected, 37,000 of whom have lost their homes.
Many of the people affected by the flooding are pastoralists who have lost everything. Crops and livestock have been destroyed and large areas of farmland have been ruined, and there is growing concern about food security and livelihoods in the coming months.
(Photo Credit: Richard Fradin/French Red Cross)
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The American Red Cross has answered the appeal by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (Federation) by giving $85,000 for the local procurement of relief items, such as sleeping mats, blankets and tarpaulins. Also, the American Red Cross has deployed John Manley from Washington, D.C., and Kevin White, formerly the Emergency Services Director of the Central Vermont/New Hampshire Valley Chapter, to Ethiopia. Manley is the Federation Program Coordinator responsible for coordinating the field operation in Ethiopia for flood response efforts. White will serve as a Federation Program Delegate working with the Ethiopian Red Cross Society on relief supply and seed distributions in the hard-hit Amhara region.
Even though flooding has subsided in most of the affected regions, many of the families who survived one of the most severe droughts in decades found themselves displaced by the floods. There is a critical need for rapid health-related interventions to help control existing acute, watery diarrhea outbreaks—to which children are especially vulnerable—and to prevent the emergence of other illnesses, including malaria. Concerns also focus on access to safe, adequate water and sanitation services and the provision of household items, blankets, kitchen materials and clean-up kits to help families as they start returning to their homes.
The excessive rainfall also has taken a heavy toll on the livelihood of the local populations by destroying livestock and washing away large areas of cultivated land. The need demanding immediate attention is the provision of seeds to farmers before the planting season ends. With the planting season already underway, many farmers who have been able to return to their homes are anxious to begin sowing their fields, but these farmers face a critical shortage of seed.
Two of the affected areas in Ethiopia are North and South Gonder. These areas experience flooding every year, but the floods this year are of a magnitude not seen for ten years. Such severe flooding presents a great socio-economic threat for the affected communities, who are often already vulnerable and quickly exhaust their coping mechanisms.
(Photo Credit: John Muathe/Federation)
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“The people affected by the floods are receiving the assistance they need from organizations like the American Red Cross to help them with the immediate recovery,” said John Manley, Federation Program Coordinator and delegate from the American Red Cross. “But, at the same time, if the farmers do not get their seeds into the ground within the next couple of weeks, there will be an urgent need for food assistance in the near future, which will be costly for donors, and devastating to those affected.”
The Ethiopian Red Cross Society (ERCS) responded promptly to the disaster by distributing relief items from emergency stocks. Now, the ERCS is purchasing nonfood items and seeds for distribution to the people most affected by the flooding. The national society also is engaged in flood-related health awareness efforts. ERCS branch offices, which are particularly strong in the hardest-hit region of Amhara, are coordinating the use of volunteers and local resources to rapidly distribute seeds and relief items.
Even though the flood waters are receding, there still remain long-term needs that the American Red Cross, as part of the Federation-coordinated response, will continue to support. The American Red Cross will continue to actively engage in the response and, in cooperation with other humanitarian organizations and the ERCS, is prepared to step up aid efforts if needed.
As Ethiopians face yet another natural calamity and struggle to get back on their feet, it is heartening to note that they are not walking this arduous path alone.
You can help the victims of countless crises around the world each year, crises like the Myanmar Cyclone and China Earthquake, by making a financial gift to the American Red Cross International Response Fund, which will provide immediate relief and long-term support through supplies, technical assistance and other support to help those in need. The American Red Cross honors donor intent. If you wish to designate your donation to a specific disaster please do so at the time of your donation by either contacting 1-800-HELP NOW or 1-800-257-7575 (Spanish), or mailing your donation with the designation to the American Red Cross, P.O. Box 37243, Washington, D.C. 20013 or to your local American Red Cross chapter. Internet users can make a secure online contribution by visiting www.redcross.org.
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