HC Progress Report 2010


| MESSAGE FROM THE HUMANITARIAN COALITION | HAITI EARTHQUAKE | ASIA-PACIFIC DISASTER |
| EAST AFRICA DROUGHT  |  UPDATES FROM THE COMMUNITY |

 


EAST AFRICA DROUGHT


In the fall of 2009, almost exactly 25 years after the 1984 East Africa famine, seven countries in the region once again faced the threat of severe hunger. The annual rains failed in many parts of the region for the fifth year in a row, due at least in part to the effects of global climate change. The lack of rain brought crop failures, even to areas that are usually unaffected by drought. As Stephen Gwynne-Vaughan, Country Director for CARE in Kenya, observed, “The resiliency of these people has just been stretched beyond its limits. They can’t take any more shocks.”


Farmers and herders were particularly hard hit, losing much of the livestock herds that are their life and livelihood. In Somaliland, herders reported losing as much as 70 to 80 percent of their animals.


With more than 200 million people at risk, the HUMANITARIAN COALITION gave funds for drought-affected communities in Kenya that were suffering acute hunger, allowing them to buy lifesaving goods. In Somalia we provided shelter, water and sanitation relief as well as education campaigns to promote good hygiene and sanitation practices. In Ethiopia, we constructed and rehabilitated boreholes, ponds and traditional wells to capture and contain rain water, and brought in emergency water by truck. Sanitation and hygiene programs worked to reduce diseases such as cholera. Emergency seed supplies were also given to farming households that had lost their crops..

 

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