Somalia Famine Could Claim 750,000 Lives in Next Four Months Without Better Aid

The worst drought in East Africa in 60 years continues to take a severe toll. The tragic stats coming from the UN (via BBC News):

Six areas are now considered to be afflicted by famine, with the latest, the Bay region, being worse than any so far–58% of children there

are malnourished, a record rate of acute malnutrition. 12 million people in East Africa, 4 million people in Somalia alone, are affected.

750,000 of these people in Somalia being “at risk of death in the coming four months in the absence of adequate response”, according to the

UN’s Food Security and Nutritional Analysis Unit.

The Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya is now that largest in the world, with as many people in it as Kansas City, Missouri.

Overall it’s worse than the famine in Somalia in 1992 and is approaching equaling the Ethiopian famine in the mid-1980s.

Read the BBC article linked above for some background on the famine, the role of Islamic militants in preventing aid from reaching affected

areas (for a while at least they denied famine existed) and preventing Somalis from leaving the nation, such as it can be called a nation.

As for the absence of adequate response to the ongoing natural and humanitarian disaster, Mother Jones makes the case that the de facto

media blackout of the famine certainly isn’t helping the situation.

The article cites data from the Pew Research Center showing that over July and August the East African famine has accounted for just 0.7%

of all news coverage. And cites Doctors Without Borders figures on how a little bit of coverage can go a long way–when ABC briefly covered

the famine the aid organization reports that it received more than $100,000 in donations in one night.

As for the role of climate in this, UNEP head Achim Steiner reminds us that all signs pointing to climate change “exponentially” increasing

the scale of of natural disasters.

And a quick glance at a map of the areas of the world with the greatest food security risk and one showing greatest water stress due to

climate change and population growth shows where the impact will most acutely be felt:

============================================

29,000 Children Dead Due to East African Famine in Past Three Months (Video)

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2011/08/29000-children-dead-east-african-famine-past-three-months.php

Shocking

http://somalipeacemaker.blogspot.com/2011/09/new-images-of-famine-stricken-somalia.html

U.N.: 750,000 people in Somalia face ‘imminent starvation’

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/09/05/somalia.famine.report/index.html

Somalia Famine: UN Needs More Money to Increase Aid

The fate of tens of thousands of people living and dying from famine in the Somalia is literally in the hands and hearts of the

internationally community.

The deadly famine in Somalia could spread if the international community doesn’t provide the funds needed to respond to the hunger crisis

that has already killed thousands, the United Nations humanitarian chief warned.

“Unless we see a massive increase in response, the famine will spread to five or six more regions,” Valerie Amos, the

Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, told reporters at U.N. Headquarters. “Tens of thousand(s) of Somalis have already died

and hundreds of thousands face starvation.”

The U.N. humanitarian agencies declared famine in two areas of southern Somalia last month.

Amos said the drought in the Horn of Africa is the worst in 60 years, according to information on the U.N.’s Web site.

The drought had already affected large areas of Kenya, Ethiopia and Djibouti and has left an estimated 12.4 million people in need of

humanitarian aid, according to the U.N.

Amos, who is also the U.N. Emergency Relief Coordinator, said early warning systems had predicted the drought last year and humanitarian

agencies had appealed for $1.6 billion dollars.

“As of mid-year, around half of that money had been raised, and as of last week donors had committed more than $1 billion,” Amos said in a

statement. “It is not enough. But neither was the crisis ignored as some have suggested. And even as we ask ourselves some important

questions we can’t allow those to distract from the task at hand. We need to deal with the here and now as well as with the longer term.”

Amos said $1.4 billion is needed immediately so that relief organizations can ramp up response to the hunger crisis in the region.

She also urged traditional donors who have already contributed generously, to provide additional resources. Amos is also appealing to

corporations, foundations and private individuals to provide some help as well.