United Nations Radio

Horn of Africa

PRES: The weather phenomenon, known as El Nino, is back this year. The periodic warming of the tropical Pacific Ocean can affect weather around the world. For the Horn of Africa, scientists are predicting that it will bring strong rains. While this may sound like a welcome change from the severe drought gripping the region, the rains are expected to cause flooding and make things worse for the already food insecure population. Patrick Maigua spoke to Elizabeth Byrs of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs to find out how countries in the Horn of Africa are preparing for El Nino.

Elisabeth Byrs, OCHA

BYRS: At the moment this region has the worst drought we have seen for a decade. And there are 23 million people in need of assistance in a way or another. These already vulnerable communities and population will be the first to be affected, especially and in particular children in the region.

MAIGUA: And what is the overall impact you see these floods having on the region?

BYRS: If these floods are as worse as the floods experienced in Kenya, for instance, and other countries of the region in 2007, the impact could be devastating: loss of crops, destruction of food stocks, cattle drowned, also water-borne diseases and poverty can be exacerbated among this vulnerable population. So, the problem is at the moment to build more resilient communities and help them to tackle the situation if those floods are occurring.

MAIGUA: Now there has been prediction about the El Niño for quite a while. Is there evidence that governments on the ground are preparing their populations for the floods or for disaster?

BYRS: Governments are well prepared or are preparing themselves very well. At the moment in Nairobi, you have a meeting of ten countries in the region to review the contingency plans for these floods, if they are bad; and every country, Kenya, the other countries have prepared contingency plans, they have pre-positioned stocks. They also have elaborated evacuation plans. For instance, in Uganda, the government together with the UN agencies is prepared to give immediate support to 25,000 persons. In Tanzania, 50,000 persons could be directly affected, and all the plans have been prepared to help those people to tackle the situation and mitigate the impact of the floods.

MAIGUA: And would you say the humanitarian agencies in this region are well prepared to deal with the catastrophe that could happen?

BYRS: The humanitarian agencies are well prepared, and they are supporting the efforts of each government, because each government has its own contingency plan. And, we hope that both efforts will be sufficient to mitigate the situation if the scenario is the worst case scenario.

PRES: Elizabeth Byrs, spokesperson for OCHA, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Producer: Patrick Maigua/Bissera Kostova, United Nations Radio
Duration: 2'33"