NAIROBI, 10 September 2009 (IRIN) - Thousands of people affected by a severe drought in the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland, northeastern Somalia, are in desperate need of assistance, with officials describing the situation as “very critical”.

"We are at a critical stage and if help does not come within weeks the situation could develop into a catastrophe,” Abdullahi Abdirahman Ahmed, head of the Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management Agency of Puntland (HADMA), told IRIN.

He said a recent assessment by his agency showed that almost all of Puntland was affected by the drought.

“We saw livestock, including camels, dying by the roadside. Others were being abandoned by their owners because they were too weak,” he said.

He said the authorities had started water trucking to the worst-affected parts of the region.

“The government effort can only cover about 30 percent of those who need help,” he said, adding that Puntland did not have the capacity to mount the kind of operation needed. “The resources are simply not there.”

Ahmed said HADMA had informed the agencies of the severity of the situation. "This is not a situation like any we have seen and so I hope that agencies don’t treat it as business as usual."

''On my tour we did not see people dying but what we saw was close to it''
Livestock dying

Haji Muse Ghelle, the governor of Bari region, one of the worst-affected areas, told IRIN some 30 percent of livestock in his region had died and the remaining animals were in very poor condition.

He said the Gu (long) rains had failed, leaving the barkads (water catchments) in the area dry. “Eighty percent of water comes from barkads and they are almost dry.”

Hundreds of families were moving from their villages in search of water and food, he said. Ghelle, who toured parts of his region from 25 August to 4 September, said he had found villages “totally abandoned… They are moving wherever they think they can find water and food."

He said both people and the remaining livestock were weak and "could not last long without help".

The priority should be to save the lives of the people and what is left of the livestock, the economic mainstay of the area. "On my tour we did not see people dying but what we saw was close to it."

Said Waberi Mohamed, the district commissioner of Qandala, in Bari region, one of the hardest-hit areas, said some 13 settlements in the district, with 1,000 families (about 6,000 people), had been abandoned. He said the district was entirely dependent on barkads, which had run dry. “We are facing one of the worst water shortages I have ever seen," he said.

Ahmed of HADMA said many nomadic families were moving to towns in search of assistance. He said the first priority was to deliver water to affected areas and to distribute food to those who had lost their livestock. “If something major is not done to intervene within the next few weeks, we will be facing a serious crisis,” he warned.

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