Over 650,000 Somalis Flee Homes Since Start Of 2020 Over Heavy Floods - UN Refugee Agency

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 07th August, 2020) Severe floods have driven more than 650,000 Somalis from their homes since the beginning of 2020, with over 150,000 of them having been displaced since late June, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said in a press release on Friday.

"More than 150,000 Somalis have been forced to flee their homes since late June, including some 23,000 in the last week alone, due to flash and riverine flooding in the Southern regions of Somalia. Rapid assessments indicate that communities in Hirshabelle and South West States are amongst the worst hit. The year has seen extreme flooding, displacing over 650,000 people across the country since the beginning of the year," the press release said.

According to the UNHCR, many of those displaced are currently living in overcrowded, makeshift shelters, which are constructed from old clothes, plastic bags, cardboard and sticks, and suffer from lack of food.

"Sanitary conditions are poor and access to medical care scarce. Health partners warn of risk of diarrhoea, vector-borne diseases, respiratory-tract infections and other communicable diseases rapidly spreading amongst the displaced population. While there has been no reported major COVID-19 outbreak, testing remains extremely limited and congestion and unsanitary conditions are risks for wide-spread transmission," the press release added.

The refugee agency has been supplying these people with core relief items such as blankets, jerry cans and plastic sheets, as well as shelter and cash, adding that Somalia's government also allocated $500,000 to address the floods. However, despite these efforts, more humanitarian support is needed to overcome the consequences.