The number of people who need humanitarian assistance in the second half of 2017 has increased to 8.5 million from 5.6 million in January, the National Disaster Risk Management Commission disclosed.
Erratic spring rains, the resultant reduction in animal feed, poor harvest and dwindling water resources exacerbated the situation, a press release the Commission sent to ENA said.
Ethiopia along with partners has conducted food security assessment between May 23 and June 22 to revise the humanitarian requirement document (HRD) for the second half of 2017.
According to the Mid-Year Review of the 2017 HRD, the net requirement to address identified food and non-food needs for the remainder of the year is 487.7 million USD.
In January, the number of people affected by the drought had dropped to 5.6 million from the 10.2 million last year, showing a 44 percent decline.
The government has been playing its leading role in curbing the drought by allocating huge amount of money and mobilizing resources by allocating 47 million USD.
Command posts for early warning, monitoring and evaluating humanitarian aid needs; and warehouses have already established close to the affected areas, in order to effectively curb the drought.
While Ethiopia continues to recover from the devastating 2016 El Niño induced drought, erratic rains this year in the southern and eastern parts of the country and loss of livelihood assets has exacerbated drought conditions. (ENA)