Addis Ababa, 18 august, 2015(WIC)- The Afar Regional office for Disaster prevention and food security said it is distributing food, medicine and water to areas faced with rainfall shortage and is well prepared to prevent probable death of people and animals.
In an exclusive interview with WIC today, Office Head, Aisha Mohamed, said about 50 thousand liters of potable water is distributed daily to selected 12 districts where there is dire shortage via 22 tanker -loaded vehicles.
The vehicles, which are supplied by the federal government and the state, are driven more than once in a day to the areas selected for water distribution, she said.
According to Aisha, some areas which have been devoid of rain are getting rain and this is helping the small rivers and swamps regain water, that is drunk by live animals during normal times. The region is trying to employ purifying techniques in order to use the rain water for drinking, she added.
“We are making relentless effort to increase the supply of water. We have also collected data on the number of people that have become vulnerable for food shortage due to lack of rain,” she said. About 182 thousand people are in need of food aid and nutritious food items are being distributed to those in need of prior support, she noted.
Aisha said animal fodder is distributed for about 186 thousand 436 cattle, 621 thousand 248 goats and sheep in 16 districts of the region. Veterinary drugs bought with a cost of 2.9 million birr are distributed to prevent animal disease and a vaccine with a cost of two million birr is prepared for supply, she said.
Non-governmental stakeholders have allocated 46 million birr for disaster prevention and have prepared to intervene by themselves, Aisha noted. The office is working in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, the region’s health bureau, World Health Organization and UNICEF to detect possible nutritious deficiency on women and children and work for the supply.