Drought-Stricken East Africa Fears Floods Next

In a cruel irony, millions of East Africans who have been struggling to grow enough food in a drought are now at risk of seeing their fields flooded by coming El Niño rains. Catholic Relief Services, which has been working to help those affected by the drought, is now gearing up for potential floods.

The numbers are staggering. Nearly 30 million people across the greater Horn of Africa are currently unable to grow or afford sufficient food for their daily needs, according to the U.S. Agency for International Development. The major factor in this increasing hunger is poor rainfall—a drought that has lasted for many years in some locations. Crops are withering under the unrelenting sun. If there is any harvest at all, it is a small one.

Water and Woe

Weather reports are now predicting rains that come with a change in the ocean currents of the Pacific due to the warming of the waters—called El Niño. This weather phenomenon typically brings excessive rain to Horn of Africa. If the El Niño rains are mild, harvests should improve. But if they are intense, they will flood the fields and erode the soil, damaging agriculture for the short term and the long term. Standing water will also increase the risk of waterborne diseases. Washed-out roads will reduce access to markets.

"A recurring cycle of drought followed by flooding is happening more and more frequently across East Africa," says David Orth-Moore, Catholic Relief Services' director for the region. "Governments and aid agencies are responding to immediate needs, but we must also implement longer-term initiatives focused on environmental stewardship to reduce the impact and scale of future climate-related crises."

Assisting More Than 2 Million East Africans

• In Ethiopia, since September 2008, CRS has been leading an international effort to distribute food to more than 2 million people monthly. CRS Ethiopia also assisted more than 40,000 drought-affected people in the eastern part of the country this year with water and sanitation, agriculture, and livelihoods.
• In Kenya, CRS is assisting 111,300 people by providing vouchers in return for conservation work. The vouchers can be exchanged for food and other essential supplies. Over the next three years, 90,000 of these participants will also gain access to seeds through a U.S. government-funded project. In addition, CRS Kenya is currently using $290,000 of private funds to expand drought response activities to serve an additional 28,740 people.
• In southern Sudan, many people are in need of food assistance due to drought and increasing conflict that often forces families to move away from their farmlands. CRS is providing three months of emergency food rations to 32,000 people in Magwi county and has assisted 96,000 people in other counties through food-for-work programs. The agency has also distributed basic items such as mosquito nets and kitchen utensils to displaced families and is stocking 2,000 kits containing a variety of household supplies in Jonglei state to allow staff to quickly provide additional post-emergency assistance if required. In addition, CRS assisted more than 31,000 people affected by August floods in Khartoum.
• In Uganda, CRS provided 1,240 at-risk households—including those headed by children, women, elderly residents and people with disabilities—in the Ngenge area with $30 worth of food vouchers to help them survive a prolonged food shortage.

Even as CRS staff members in affected countries are monitoring drought conditions, they are also working with local partners to prepare for possible flooding. The agency is exploring additional ways—including seed and tool fairs, more food vouchers, and natural resource management activities—to address current needs and reduce the impact of future crises. These initiatives will be implemented as funding allows.