JALALAQSI, Somalia – The Somali Disaster Management Agency (SODMA) has sent aid to the Jalalaqsi district, to respond to the humanitarian crisis resulting from the floods.
About 30 aid trucks carrying vital relief supplies reached Jalalaqsi town in the Hiran region.
The people living in Jalalaqsi and the nearby villages are facing a very difficult situation after being affected by the Shabelle River floods and the ongoing torrential rainfall.
The aid dispatch comes a week after the DC of Jalalaqsi Nur Dheere announced that the people are eating grass because of a lack of food coupled with no shelter and healthcare.
The death toll from the floods in Somalia has risen to at least 118 with over two million displaced from their towns to major cities in search of food to survive, according to reports.
The heavy rains that pounded Somalia since October have extensively destroyed roads, bridges, and airstrips while hospitals, schools, and other vital facilities have been closed in some areas and the risk of cholera has spiked, the humanitarian agencies said.
The floods came after the worst drought in four decades following five failed rainy seasons that decimated livestock and crops, pushing the country to the brink of famine.
According to humanitarian agencies, the floods are the latest in a series of extreme weather events in recent years to hit Somalia, where communities find themselves at the sharp end of the global climate crisis.
