Counting the cost of the floods
[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]
OMORATE-- Kol Atoala, a 34-year-old father of 10, has for the past three years lived at Kokoy, an Ethiopian village on the shores of Lake Turkana, but when floods hit a neighbouring settlement, he, two of his three wives and seven children decided to leave.
Fleeing by boat with some of their cattle, the family reached Bubua village, a few kilometres away, on Friday night. Kol is now planning to return to Kokoy to get his third wife and three children still stranded at Kokoy.
Kol was one of 8,350 people displaced by flash floods when the Omo River breached its banks, marooning residents of 10 villages in Ethiopia's Southern Regional State on 12 August. About 6,000 of those displaced were from Dasenech woreda while the rest came from Ngangatom.
Floods first hit Dire Dawa city in southern Ethiopia earlier this month, killing hundreds. Then the Omo River burst its banks at the same time as rivers in Tigray, Amhara and Oromia regions.
"Where can we leave our cattle?" Awala Randale asked Ethiopia's Prime Minister Meles Zenawi when he visited some of the stricken people on Friday. "We pastoralists give milk to our children when they are born. If we are leaving this place, our children will not get milk and if they do not get milk, they will die," he added, underlining people's reluctance to leave their flooded villages without their livestock.
Meles pledged government compensation for those who had lost homes and other property and help to evacuate those who were willing to leave for safer areas.
Forty-five evacuees arrived in Omorate on Monday. Logobote Bere, a 65-year-old father of 10, told IRIN he wanted to stay in Omorate until the floods eased. He said he had lost one of his four wives. Fifteen of his cattle had been washed away. "I want to go back to the village after a while. My surviving cattle are still there," he said.
Negatu Dansa, Vice-Administrator of the South Omo Zone, said the government had selected four areas to resettle the displaced people.
"Two of them, Dalgemor and Salegne, are new locations but the rest Toltale and Koronguat, have their own residences. Among the 6,000 affected people from the Dasenech woreda, 50 percent of them [experienced] serious problems. They should be evacuated from their villages. The rest can stay on and will get aid," said Negatu. Other displaced people were staying in Omorate town and Kuraz woreda police station.
Omorate residents told IRIN they still faced the threat of more floods because the Omo River was expected to continue swelling due to excess water in the Gilgil Gibe Dam. The Gibe and Gojeb are tributaries of the Omo.
When the flooding began, only one helicopter was being used to rescue people and transport food aid. The number of aircraft shuttling between Omorate and the flooded villages has now increased. Lt-Col. Negash Seyoum of the Ethiopian Air Force said the helicopters had rescued 400 people and transported half a tonne of food.
In Tolatale village also on the shores of the lake, which is home to 5,000 people including the 1,500 evacuees, aid arrived on Friday, but distribution to those in need did not begin until Monday. Negatu said the distribution had been delayed because in most cases, it had arrived in too small quantities to meet the needs of the displaced.
Other than food, the displaced people repeatedly asked for mosquito nets as the stagnant water was becoming a vast breeding ground for the malaria-causing mosquitoes. Shiferaw Tekelemariam, head of the Southern Region Health Bureau> , said 8,000 mosquito nets were being distributed in Omorate. Another 8,000 nets were expected soon.