MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 05th November, 2019) The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has delivered six tonnes of aid to Somalia's Hirshabelle state to help those affected by recent flooding, UNHCR spokesman Andrej Mahecic announced on Tuesday.
"An airplane - a Fokker 50 cargo freighter - carrying six metric tons of aid items from UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, landed on Monday in Belet Weyne in Somalia's Hiirshabelle state to assist people displaced by the country's worst flooding in years," Mahecic said.
Flooding has been devastating local communities in the country for two weeks now, with more than 270,000 people having been displaced over this period, according to the UNHCR. Approximately 230,000 people have taken shelter in the town of Beledweyne, which is in Hirshabelle, and are in need of humanitarian assistance.
Monday's delivery was the first in what is to be a series of flights the UNHCR is organizing to help the more than 20,000 people who have been cut off by floodwaters and can only be reached by air. The UN agency has scheduled 10 flights � three a day � to airlift a total of 60 tonnes of humanitarian relief kits, including jerrycans, soap, blankets, kitchen sets and plastic sheets, according to Mahecic.
He added that 2,000 emergency shelter kits would also be delivered to the area, while 500 more emergency kits will be airlifted to the state of South West, another area suffering from flooding.
"An immediate humanitarian emergency response is crucial UNHCR and partners have mobilized $2.58 million USD for the response, with a gap of a further $11.86 million USD required to meet the humanitarian needs," Mahecic said.
Somalia is a very fragile state, with an estimated internally displaced population reaching 2.6 million. The floods show Somalia's increasing vulnerability to the effects caused by climate change.
