MOGADISHU 7/11/2019: More than 300,000 residents including people with disabilities have been displaced due to severe flooding across Baledweyne in October, according to local and international media on Friday. The massive majority of those displaced people by flooding are in the Baladweyne area due to the flooding of the Shebelle river.
People with disabilities in affected area are among those victims who displaced from their homes in Baledweyne as our volunteers told us an estimated ten present of total number of displaced are considered to be disabled people who are facing lack of food, health and shelter. Our volunteers confirmed that these huge number of disabled people needs to emergency support.
Persons with disabilities in Somalia have difficulty of getting the humanitarian emergency support from the donors and government of Somalia because of their disability circumstances, Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) may need specific support and consideration related to their disability and their emergency living environment to enable them to participate fully in these daily activities in an emergency condition, when all members of the community are considered in a vulnerable situation, a persons with disabilities PWD may face double disadvantaged and challenges if these special needs are not met.
People with difficulty in moving may also need assistance for evacuating from a hazardous location, accessing relief shelters and using latrines. Physical assistance, assistive devices, or installation of ramps may be necessary to ensure these persons are not disadvantaged or stuck in a dangerous situation.
NRC said several thousand people in the worst-affected area of Baladweyne are sheltering under trees or in emergency tents after their makeshift homes were washed away by floods caused by torrential rain.
“Floods have destroyed more than three-quarters of Baladweyne and submerged many surrounding villages. These are extremely poor parts of Somalia, where there is now no electricity and no safe drinking water. Livestock has been lost and agricultural production has been decimated,” said NRC statement.
Conclusion
Somali Disability Empowerment Network (SODEN) is concerning the situation and safety of those people with disability who are in floods area. SODEN sends its appeal to the government of Somalia, international community, UN agencies and other relevant stakeholder to make their humanitarian support in to the inclusive humanitarian response to redouble their support of people with disabilities in disaster area. According our volunteers staff on the ground, the displaced people, particularly people with disabilities, children, mothers and the elderly, are in distressed need of food, water, health, crisis shelter and sanitation, latrines.
For more information please clicl the link pdf document https://www.somalidisability.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Floods-report-on-disabled-people-1.pdf
