IOM continues to provide relief assistance to flood victims in the
western region of Gambela and rehabilitation and reconstruction
assistance to populations displaced by recent flash floods in the
eastern town of Dire Dawa.



In the Gambela region, IOM will distribute by road or boat Non
Food Items (NFIs) such as plastic sheeting, blankets, jerrycans,
cooking pots and soap to some 13,000 persons who remain cut off in
the districts of Dimma, Jikawo, Akobo and Wanthwa.



“Apart from NFIs, we also plan to provide sorghum and maize
seeds bought locally to displaced families to help them start a new
planting season as soon as the water recedes,” says
IOM’s Lili Sanya, who is coordinating IOM’s relief
efforts in the Gambela region.



In Dire Dawa, where flash floods killed more than 250 people in
October, IOM is working with the local authorities to provide some
5,000 internally displaced persons with building materials and
training to help them reconstruct their homes on higher land
donated by the authorities.



The flood victims will also be trained in vocational and life
skills including carpentry, masonry, wood and metal works.



IOM is also preparing the transfer of an initial group of 1,000
homeless individuals to the first of 200 permanent houses currently
under construction in Dire Dawa.



In both regions, IOM is training the local authorities to register
flood victims in databases used for the on-going relief operation.
 



Unusually heavy rains in October have caused major flooding in
Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia.  The flooding, which is expected
to continue until the end of the year and perhaps into early next
year, is putting some 1.8 million East Africans at risk of
malnutrition and infectious diseases.



In Ethiopia, the World Health Organization reports some 40,000
cases of acute watery diarrhoea, including 403 deaths.



IOM’s activities are currently funded through the
Humanitarian Response Fund (HRF) for Ethiopia and by the UNDP.

For more information, please contact

Charles Kwenin

IOM Addis Ababa

Tel: +251 11 550 40 28

E-mail: "mailto:ckwenin@iom.int" target="" title="">ckwenin@iom.int