According to H.E the Vice president of Somaliland Hon Abdurrahman Abdullah Ismail ‘Sayli’ who heads the national drought relief committee, urgent action is needed sooner rather than later in order to avert a humanitarian crisis of unmanageable proportion with attendant human sufferings.
During the press conference, the VP said, “It is estimated that up to 20,000 households have been affected. These people require emergency assistance in food, water, medical care and shelter. If we do not respond and attend to their needs immediately, we might be losing many of them, particularly the most vulnerable, the young and the old, to starvation and dehydration. Day time temperatures in the coastal areas exceed 40°C this time of the year.
“The reports received from local administrations in all regions of the country, the public, humanitarian organizations and ministries indicate a dire situation in the drought affected areas, but wore hit are Selal , Awdal , Sahil and Gebiley regions ,where there are critical shortages of both food and water”, he said.
Hence, we appeal to the international community: the UN agencies, and international NGOs; our local NGOs, the local business fraternity and also public at large to take action urgently in order to save lives in the drought affected areas. We are confident that together we will rise to the challenge and meet our national obligations.
