Concern
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
Concern Somalia undertook a 4 days rapid assessment in January 2006 in the Berdaale and Qansax-Dhere Districts in Southern Somalia, where the impact of the drought was very particularly severe.
Compounding an already dire situation, an internal clan conflict that that has raged for years, resulted in generators, engines and pumps either being looted or destroyed. However, communities protected and sealed most of the boreholes from debris.
The assessment focused on water availability, pasture and livestock conditions, and found a severe water crises in both districts. Migrating pastoralists and livestock from the neighboring Gedo region has placed further stress on the water situation. The team recommended an urgent water intervention programme to save lives and livelihoods.
CONCERN’S CURRENT OPERATIONS
Concern’s assessment team, local elders and borehole technicians identified 8 boreholes; 3 in Qansax-Dhere and 5 in Berdaale District that could be repaired quickly. Concern also began de-silting 9 rain water catchments through a cash-for-work scheme in Qansax-Dhere and Berdaale Districts. A total workforce of 1,300 successfully carried out the de-silting work, thus making catchments ready prior to the rains. This injected desperately needed cash into the local economy at a time when drought-affected households were beginning to sell their assets.
In addition to this, Concern began trucking water into some remote villages. By April, some 80 000 litres of water were trucked to villagers living in some of the most remote areas.
The rains started in most of Somalia in April. Qansax-dhere district received more rains than Berdaale. Although welcome, the rains presented their own challenges, such as hindering access into the area. But the rehabilitated rain water catchments proved essential in providing water to the communities and the timing of the work was good. The catchments are currently holding fairly decent amounts of water. As a result of the heavy rains, the water trucking process into remote villages was suspended, while rehabilitation of the boreholes continues.
Source: Concern, July 4, 2006
