A devastated cyclone-hit community in Somaliland is to receive $3-million (R37.5-million) from the UN Assistant Mission in Somalia (UNSOM).
The release of the funds follows an unprecedented storm which delivered a full year’s worth of rain in just a few days, compounding damage caused by recent severe flooding 180 kilometres south-west of Hargeisa, the capital of Somaliland.
“We are on the ground, both the UN and NGOs, and we have already been providing assistance, particularly in the form of immediate food security assistance, and also non-food items, shelter items in particular, and health assistance,” said the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia, Peter de Clercq.
The recent landfall of Cyclone Sagar on the northern Horn of Africa has affected some 160,000 people, killing dozens and causing severe damage to infrastructure and economic hardship, especially for traditional pastoralists.