Visiting Belet Weyne, where at least 100, 000 people were rendered homeless after the Shabelle river burst its banks, President Farmajo promised that the national government would do all it can to aid the flood victims.
MOGADISHU – President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed “Farmajo” on Monday called the raging flash floods that uprooted tens of thousands of people across the country a “national disaster” and appealed for an urgent international aid to help the affected people.
Visiting Belet Weyne, where at least 100, 000 people were rendered homeless after the Shabelle river burst its banks, President Farmajo promised that the national government would do all it can to aid the flood victims.
“Today, I came here to share with you the pain and the problem you’re in that was occasioned by a natural disaster, which we call a national disaster,” said President Farmajo after visiting makeshift camps, where families affected by the floods live in squalid conditions. “It truly pained us all. We know that today more than a hundred thousand people live in open air, and that the people fled from the large city of Belet Weyene after being submerged by water.”
President Farmajo said he got no reports of casualties in the city, but, said, “there are injuries.”
He called the area “uninhabitable.”
The heavy downpour and flash floods, which started last month, rendered roads impassible, disrupted learning activities and washed away farmlands. At least three people have so far drowned.
The United Nations humanitarian agency said last week that the crisis has affected more than 427,000 people in different parts of the nation, 175,000 of whom have already left their homes in southern regions.
In Belet Weyne town and surrounding riverine villages, an estimated 122,580 people have been displaced after the Shabelle River burst its banks and flooded houses and crops, said the The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, citing data collected by humanitarian partners.
The main road that connects Belet Weyne town to the airport is on the verge of closure due to the river overflow, warned the UN.
Belet Weyne, which is the main city in Hiiraan region, is situated in a low-lying area and during rainy seasons the water of more than 20 nearby valleys flow into it. The Shabelle river, which flows from Ethiopia, runs through the middle of the city.
President Farmajo shaking the hand of a kid whose family was uprooted by the flash floods in Belet Weyne on Monday.
Dozens of Belet Weyne residents, mainly men and clan elders, have received the president at the city’s main airport that was for about a month off-limits to civilian jets due to the floods.
Under tight security, the president shook hands of those who lined up on the dry part of the otherwise flooded airport to welcome him.
Ugas Hassan Ugas Khalif Uwas Roble, a clan elder who was speaking on behalf of Belet Weyne residents, requested two things from President Farmajo: To build the main airport and to go deep inside the city and see firsthand the suffering of the residents.
The president said the national government would help rebuild Uwas Khalif Airport’s unusable runway to be able to receive relief flights.
Mohamed Abdi Aware, the regional administrator, called on the president to fulfil his promises to Belet Weyne residents.
“It’s said that ‘an old man has eyes all over his body.’ I’m sure you don’t need to be told what to do,” said Aware, holding a microphone in his right hand and throwing frequent glances toward the president who was seated to his right side.
The Somali proverb has the same meaning as the English idiom of having eyes in the back of one’s head.
“We feel valued enough, we feel honored enough — and even we’re saying to ourselves ‘you’ve got what you wanted’ — because of your visit. Your visit to us is enough for us,” said Aware.
Videos aired by satellite Somali-language TV stations showing Belet Weyne residents wading through knee-deep water and children swimming in waist-high large pools created by the flash floods have alarmed the public and increased calls for urgent action to aid the flood victims.
To highlight the gravity of the situation, Aware last week held a press conference inside the floods, actually standing thigh deep in waters.
Aware’s last week press conference inside the flood water.
President Farmajo reminded the residents that the national government has last Saturday formed an emergency response team “because this disaster is really very, very weighty disaster.”
“As the central federal government, we will take a very big share, a lion’s share, of the responsibility,” he said. “Allah willing, we will rush in urgent aid.”
The UN says although the Gu’ rains are expected to ease the impact of severe drought conditions caused by four consecutive poor rainy seasons, the floods will also compound an already fragile humanitarian situation in the Horn of Africa nation.
“Allah willing, we will do everything we can and also appeal to the international community to play a bigger part” in assisting the flood affected people, he said.
The current available and pledged funding of $382 million – out of $1.5 billion requirement – is “insufficient to support on-going operations and are inadequate to support a robust flood response.”
An estimated 5.4 million people are in need of assistance, 2.7 million of whom require urgent life-saving assistance, says the UN.
“We appeal to the Somali public wherever they’re, whether they live abroad or at home to play a bigger part in this activity” of aiding the flood affected people, he said.