3 November 2009
The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) is leading UN relief efforts in north-eastern Kenya, where recent torrential rainfall has brought flooding at the same time as much of the rest of the country endures a prolonged drought.
UNICEF is working with Kenya's Red Cross Society and local authorities to chlorinate wells contaminated with flood water in the El Wak area of Mandera district, close to the border with Somalia, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
About 4,600 Kenyans living in the northeast and along the Indian Ocean coast have been displaced from their homes and forced to live with host families or in schools, OCHA reported today.
Fears are mounting that the wider Horn of Africa region could experience devastating floods in the next few months as the El Ni-o weather phenomenon takes effect, with heavy rains expected to peak this month across the region.
OCHA said as many as 750,000 people may eventually be affected by floods and landslides from the current rainy season.
UN aid agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and Kenyan authorities have developed contingency plans that include the pre-positioning of relief items such as food, mosquito nets and water treatment chemicals in flood-prone areas.
Last month UN Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes warned that Kenya, Somalia, Tanzania and Uganda are likely to be hit hardest by El Nino, with Djibouti, Eritrea and Ethiopia also at risk.
Much of the region, including large swathes of Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia, has been stricken by drought recently.
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A very interesting and thoughtful article. The best way for Africa to help itself with GHG is to stop exporting oil and gas to the outside world. Gas that is valuable enough to ship abroad and sell should be sold at a price that is competitive enough to keep it home. Catch all of that gas, and use it for yourselves. You will then have electricity and cooking fuel both. It is maddening to see forests felled for charcoal cooking fuel while cleaner-to-use gas is being wasted. Each of your nations should try to be the last to run out of fuel. Move to solar, wind, geothermal and biofuels from wastes for your energy sources.
Other activities to fight climate change troubles include the restoration of your waterways to full functionality by clearing the weeds that clog them and the silt that they have left behind.
Just a factual correction. Nigerian LNG is not sold to Benin, Togo and Ghana. There is a gas pipeline from Nigeria to these three countries. But it does not carry LNG. It carries natural gas under pressure. Unfortunately, becuse there is insufficient gas being gathered and shipped from Nigeria, the pipeline has been empty for over a year.
In today's climate talk that's going and will be converse more in December must not be damaging to Africa. Together, Africa MUST STAND FIRMLY and get what she deserves - BETTER and LASTING AGREEMENT. That's, what is beneficial for Africa. Any negativities effects concerning our people standard of living MUST NOT be accepted by any Africa Government. The days of a/an African Live seeing as less than an insect or any other most be OVER and SHOULD NOT be negotiated in any Climate talks. Our "Africans" lives and living standard is/are as important as any other lives. Therefore, as Africans head to the climate talk in December, please open your ears, listen carefully, don't be trick, and don't accept anything lesser to solve your prombles for the betterness of your people in the whole of Africa - period !!!!! The days of damaging Africans' lives, enviroment, living conditions; the physical and metal abuses should and most all come to an end. Therefore, we "Africans" should not be conveince with their sweet tooth to accept something lesser where'in our people keep continue to suffer and die for their pleasures and the lack of consideration for Africans lives and living standards. God Bless Africa
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