A new report by the international charity, Save the Children has shown that Somalia is experiencing its worst drought crisis in a decade, with millions going hungry and many being forced from their homes in search of food and water.
The latest humanitarian assessment by the NGO which was released on Thursday, January 10, showed that the majority of families were going without meals on a regular basis.
The report which surveyed more than 12,000 people in 15 of Somalia’s 18 regions, also showed that more than one-third of households included at least one person going without food over a 24-hour period.
“Nearly six in 10 people reported at least one person in their family had lost their source of income, largely due to the death of livestock” the report showed.
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According to the assessment which was conducted in November 2021, nearly 700,000 camels, goats, sheep and cattle died from drought-related causes over a two-month period.
“The ultimate culprit is climate change,” Mohamud Mohamed, Save the Children’s country director in Somalia, said in a statement.
Speaking further, he said “Somalia has always had droughts, and Somalis have always known how to deal with them – they struggle, they lose livestock, they count their losses, and then they bounce back.
Mohamed explained that currently, the gaps between droughts are shrinking and that it’s a killer cycle that is robbing Somali children of their future.
Story was adapted from Aljazeera.
