Women and children eating grass in flood-hit region - ICRC

Women and children have been forced to eat grass to survive in a remote, flood-hit area of southern Ethiopia, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Monday. The organisation said that victims of the flooding in the Somali Regional State, which has claimed dozens of lives, held up their dirty hands to show they had been living on grass in areas cut off by the deluge. ICRC officials said they initially took four to five days to reach the districts of East and West Imi, where many villages were inundated when the Wabe Shebele river burst its banks on 22 April. Beatriz Suso, an ICRC agronomist, said that when she arrived, families who had fled their homes and lost all their possessions stood in the pouring rain because they had no shelter. "A little girl was looking to us desperately," Suso said. "She was completely alone in the middle of the camp, frightened, soaked and trembling. Then I saw many women and children showing to me their dirty hands and mouths, they had just finished eating the only thing they could find – grass," she added. The flooding in the Somali region, which had been affected by severe drought, has claimed as many as 119 lives and forced some 110,000 from their homes, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) said. According to the UN Emergencies Unit for Ethiopia (EUE), some 13 villages in East Imi were affected, including one which was swept away. In West Imi, nine of the 12 villages along the river were flooded and damaged. In Kelafo and Mustahil – two other areas now recovering from the rains – three schools and five health centres were destroyed. "In all affected areas local populations (and especially children) are running short of food," the EUE said in its monthly Focus on Ethiopia report. The ICRC said, however, that it was now targeting East and West Imi and that 385 mt of food and 10 mt of seeds had gone through. It added that areas which were cut off were gradually becoming accessible so that desperately needed aid could be transported. The ICRC said the rains – although catastrophic in the damage caused – were actually needed in the areas which depend on flood recession agriculture. "More territory was inundated than in the past, and after the water withdraws, more fertile land will be used for agriculture and more grazing areas will be available for cattle," it said.