After the El Niño weather phenomenon that severely affected Ethiopia and left 10.2 million people in need of emergency assistance in 2015/16, Ethiopia is once again subject to severe weather conditions causing the failure of the Hageya/Deyr rains (fall rain) in the southern and eastern rainfall belt. The severe water shortages resulting from negative Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) induced drought have caused high numbers of livestock deaths due to lack of pasture and high rate of disease. The Ethiopian Government with its humanitarian partners have issued the Humanitarian Requirement Document (HRD) in mid-January 2017 and declared that a total 5.6 million people are in need of urgent assistance. A total of USD 948 million has been requested.

The proposed preliminary activities are categorized as life-saving activities such as: the provision of drinking water for people and livestock, provision of water treatment chemicals, the rehabilitation of water supply infrastructure, NFI support, hygiene and sanitation, animal feed, veterinary services, destocking, nutrition, health and protection.

Members of the  ACT Alliance Ethiopia Forum  (AAEF) are currently responding to the 2015-16 El Niño-induced-drought and are preparing to mobilise additional resources to meet urgent needs of the current drought phenomena.

Alerts_05_ 2017 Drought Response in Ethiopia