CO-Drought & Sever Water Shortages Respo 2020 was one of the hardest years for Somalia in decades. Flooding, COVID-19 and recurring locust invasions heavily impacted on theeconomy and livelihoods of people. The government implemented measures to contain COVID-19, including the closure of schools, reduction of movement and other economic activities. The coastal areas of Puntland and Somaliland were also hit by cyclone Gati in November 2020, resulting in a sharp increase in humanitarian needs which many organizations - including Oxfam Somalia - responded to. While the performance of the 2020 Gu rain was near normal, the Deyr rain of 2020 has been categorized a complete failure due to the La Nina conditions. These developments triggered severe water shortages in many regions and districts in Somalia. Since October 2020, regional administrations, communities and other humanitarian agencies have been sending alerts about looming drought conditions in many parts of Somalia.Oxfam’s feedback hotline continues to receive a high number of calls from people requesting immediate water interventions. These callers are mainly from the Sool, Sanaag and Togdheer regions. UNOCHA assessment findings indicate that over 50% of the communities in the assessed locations reported displacement of people due to water shortages, 85% raised major concerns on watershortages, and 14 out of 40 villages reported an increase in diarrheal cases. The price of water has already more than doubled. According to Oxfam’s own market assessment, one barrel of water is currently being sold at an average of USD 4.5 per barrel, with some villages reporting over USD 7 per barrel. This is forcing the most vulnerable households to travel long distances to fetch water and/or opt for poor water quality and risk their lives. The most affected communities include IDPs and low-income host communities. Women and girls are at risk of protection-related risks as they travel in search of water.
Regarding COVID-19, over 4,784 cases with over 130 fatalities were registered by the WHO in Somalia since the start of the pandemic, with many cases left undetected due to asymptomatic infections, low testing capacity and the stigmatisation of COVID-19 cases among the population. The second wave of the pandemic seems to have also hit the country as the number of cases started to increase in the last few months. The government of Somaliahas eased most of the restrictions in August 2020 and most of the public services have resumed. This increases the risk of vulnerability to COVID-19 and the shortages of water in many areas further restrict the communities' ability to frequently wash their hands with soap. This might create a favourable environment for COVID-19 to spread.
The Ministry of Water Development in Somaliland shareda request with all humanitarian agencies, indicating that over 196,848 people are in need of urgent water interventions and that many others also require quick rehabilitations of their water sources. Over 88% of the people in need are from the Sool, Sanaag, and Togdheer regions of Eastern Somaliland. In October 2020, Oxfam using the ECHO crisis modifier budget reached the most vulnerable 1,800 HH (10,800 people) in Sool, Sanaag, and Togdheer for 30 days with WASH interventions. Since then, we have continued to advocate for urgent interventions by sharing summary reports with the Somalia WASH cluster and presentations of the situation with cluster members. Utilising other existing resources, we are also working with the Ministry of Water Resources to rehabilitate boreholes that were identified as strategic wells by the government.