Relief agencies assist tsunami-affected communities

UN agencies were delivering assistance to thousands of people in Somalia whose lives were shattered by the tsunami that tore through South Asia and the coastal areas of the Indian Ocean on 26 December, relief workers said. The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) was assisting 12,000 people in the villages of Hafun, Gara'g, Bender Beyla and Eyl on the northeastern coastline of Somalia, Bob McCarthy, UNICEF Somalia Emergency Officer, told IRIN on Tuesday. "UNICEF has provided shelter materials and clean water, and in collaboration with WHO [World Health Organization], emergency medical care and measles vaccinations," McCarthy said via satellite phone from Hafun. "Collaboration is also taking place with WFP [World Food Programme], who are providing food assistance to children and with UNHCR [UN refugee agency] on longer-term shelter needs." According to McCarthy, residents of the fishing community of Hafun, the worst hit area, had more than half their homes destroyed by the killer wave, leaving them without shelter, clean water, sanitation and food. They were now living 300-400 mt from the shore under makeshift homes made from branches or sheltering under plastic sheeting provided by UNICEF after vacating a school that had become their home. UNICEF said the displaced vacated the school so that children could return to class. With local water sources being contaminated, UNICEF is collaborating with the Somali Red Crescent Society to provide household chlorination. Limited amounts of safe drinking water are also being transported from 92 km away in trucks. Other responses had come from UN-Habitat, which had, under the flash inter-agency appeal launched by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on 5 January, initiated a rapid response effort aimed at helping the survivors of the tsunami to rebuild their lives. Up to 1,500 buildings and 40 villages in northeastern Somalia were damaged by the tsunami. Once the immediate humanitarian crisis has abated, UN-Habitat said it planned to provide basic shelter to homeless people by repairing properties and basic infrastructure. All together, UN-Habitat aims to rehabilitate 1,000 houses and build 500 new houses at an estimated cost of US $2 million. Northeastern Somalia was the worst affected, particularly a stretch of around 650 km between Hafun [Bari region] and Garacad [Mudug region]. Damage extended to other parts of the Somali coast, including the Lower Juba area. At least 150 people are estimated to have died.