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East Africa Emergency

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can provide a food pack to one family in an emergency

can provide clean water to 3 families for one month during an emergency

can provide a cash grant to 3 families to purchase essential items

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£
can provide a food pack to one family in an emergency
can provide clean water to 3 families for one month during an emergency
can provide a cash grant to 3 families to purchase essential items
Please enter the amount
Please select a fund

Families in East Africa are facing a dire humanitarian crisis amid climate change and extreme weather events. 

Somalia, Ethiopia, and Kenya have been experiencing severe flooding as a result of heavy rainfall this Autumn, taking the lives of over 100 people and displacing over 700,000 across East Africa, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

The floods have further crippled the already struggling region, which has also seen one of the worst droughts in history between 2020 and 2023, and left millions of people not knowing where their next meal is coming from. 

There are fears that the recent floods will push those already struggling to the brink of survival. 

Over 20 million people face starvation, with millions of children expected to suffer from malnutrition. The flooding has caused significant damage to clean water facilities, leading to the risk of water-borne diseases and malaria. Affected families are in urgent need of humanitarian aid.

To make matters worse, the healthcare system in Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia are on the brink of collapse, and many hospitals have been damaged by the floods. 

Image: Buna town in Wajir County of Kenya has been submerged by flood waters.

A person is dying from hunger every 48 seconds in East Africa 

The prospect of starvation in the region has caused mass internal displacement, with families taking desperate measures to survive – leaving with only the clothes on their back in search of food and water. Tragically, they face more vulnerabilities as a result. Women and girls who have no choice but to walk for miles to retrieve water from functioning water points are at an increasing risk of exposure to violence and sexual abuse. Humanitarian access barriers across the region due to conflict also poses a threat to the survival of displaced people.

Increasingly frequent climate disasters such as this, and an unfair system exacerbated by the residual impact of Covid-19, disproportionately affects the poorest communities in the world – trapping them in the cycle of poverty.

Islamic Relief is on the ground distributing essential food, water, and shelter items, but we need your help to support the tens of thousands of people who are trying to survive these terrifying circumstances.

Please donate to Islamic Relief’s East Africa Emergency Appeal now and help save lives.

two children and a mother sat outside their home with a yellow water container

Somalia

Impact of the drought: Somalia is amongst the hardest hit by the drought in East Africa. Currently, almost 90 per cent of the country’s districts (66 out of 74) have been struck and approximately 4.3 million people are in desperate need of immediate aid.

According to the UN, 271,000 people in Somalia have been forced to abandon their homes in a desperate attempt to reach food, water, and pasture – exposing them to many more terrifying dangers.

Gender-based violence, disease outbreaks due to a lack of access to sanitation and hygiene facilities, a lack of adequate shelter and more, face the hundreds of thousands as they leave home in search of food and water.

Impact of the floods: 1.24 million people have been affected by the floods in Somalia, and 32 people have lost their lives. 

457,000 people have been displaced from their homes.

There are fears of the situation deteriorating, as extreme heavy rainfall has been predicted in Southern Somalia, as well as parts of Somaliland and Galmudug State. 

The humanitarian situation in Somalia is dire, and families are in urgent need of aid. The floods have caused road blockages, making it difficult for aid to be delivered.

Islamic Relief is on the ground

Islamic Relief Somalia teams are supporting nearly 5,000 people affected by the floods with cash grants which will cover their needs for three months.

With your support, we will also be providing affected families with hygiene kits and other essential items, as well as cash support to additional families in several regions such as Badhere and Baladweyne. 

We are also planning to distribute food packs to 100 families, and to construct emergency toilets for displaced families. 

Islamic Relief has worked in Somalia for 15 years and are now working tirelessly to respond to the current crisis unfolding.

Ethiopia

Today, one of the world’s most extreme hunger crises is facing the people of Ethiopia, in East Africa. The UN estimates there are now 13.6 million people in dire need of food aid.

Impact of the drought: One of the worst areas to be hit by the growing drought crisis is Borena, in the Oromia region, which shares a southern border with Kenya. There, 69,000 livestock have died due to the effects of a drought, cutting off livelihoods and provisions for thousands of people who have nowhere else to turn for food and income.

To add further to the terrifying circumstances unfolding in Ethiopia, the northern region continues to be one of the most dangerous places to deliver aid.

Conflict in the northern region of Tigray in late 2020 has sprung into action blockades that prevent essential food and medicine from reaching people in need. As a result, many hundreds of thousands of people are starving to death.

Impact of the floods: Over 760,000 people in Ethiopia have been affected by heavy rains, floods, and landslides and 43 people have lost their lives. 

Families have also been displaced as a result of the flooding, and are in urgent need of aid. In the Afar region alone, over 2, 200 families have been forced to flee their homes. 

Many flooded areas remain inaccessible and hard-to-reach as multiple routes and bridges have been  damaged. 

Islamic Relief is on the ground

Islamic Relief teams in Ethiopia are providing vulnerable families with cash grants, as well as hygiene kits in the worst-affected areas of Afder and Borana.

We are one of the few international organisations providing foodstuffs such as oil, pulses, rice, sugar and salt on the ground. We also run eight mobile health units which are a crucial source of wellbeing for displaced people in the conflict-affected region of Afar in the north, with plans to extend our reach to those in the south.

Kenya

Impact of the drought: The growing drought crisis in Kenya has been a devastating blow for the many vulnerable people living in the northern, north-eastern, and coastal areas of the country. They are now experiencing one of their worst rainfalls in decades.

For the millions of people who depend largely on agriculture for income, the drought has ripped them of their livelihoods and plunged them into dire circumstances. More than 1.4 million cows, sheep, goats, and camels have already died, causing milk production to drop to less than half of normal levels. Food insecurity across the country poses the biggest threat to the survival of children, the elderly, women and men.

With livestock rapidly declining, many have been forced to walk to source pasture, food and water supplies. Currently, 2.9 million people are in need of urgent food aid and humanitarian assistance.

Impact of the floods: 19 of the country’s 47 counties have now been affected by flooding which began in late October 2023. 46 people have now lost their lives, and 58,000 people have been displaced from their homes across the country.

Many communities have also been left isolated as flooding has damaged or destroyed roads and bridges.

Homes, schools, hospitals, and public buildings have been destroyed.

Crops and large numbers of livestock have been lost, making the food crisis in the country even worse.

Islamic Relief is on the ground

Islamic Relief Kenya team are providing affected families with cash grants, as well as seeds and animal vaccinations to help rebuild livelihoods.

We have also been providing thousands of drought-affected families with cash transfers to help people in remote areas. 

Ethiopian women collecting food packs from islamic relief representative

Support affected communities in East Africa

Islamic Relief have been on the ground in the East Africa region for over 15 years, working to provide sustainable solutions and response mechanisms to climate changes occurring in the area. However, the frequency and intensity of the droughts are leaving these resilient communities with no time to recover in between disasters.

That’s why Islamic Relief urgently needs your help to support and provide the aid these people need to survive.

Boreholes, micro-dams, and new irrigation systems provided by Islamic Relief across the decades are effective long-term solutions for the many communities who have been able to reach them, or produce crops for a longer period. However, with hundreds of thousands fleeing to limited resources, Islamic Relief needs your help to provide urgent aid provisions, such as food, shelter, and water items.

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