Poor communication hampering flood response

Efforts to reach thousands of people displaced by floods in eastern Ethiopia have been hampered by poor communication and the pastoralist nature of those affected, an official said. "We have difficulties in reaching them due to the remoteness of the area," Daniel Gezahegn, head of the information department of the Southern Nations and Nationalities People’s Region, said. "There is no telephone or other means of communication. The nearest town that has radio communication, Omorate, is 40 km away from the villages." After the flooding of the Omo River, a flash flood on Sunday morning hit nine remote villages in Dasanech and Ngangato districts, 950 km south of the capital, Addis Ababa. Gezahegn said the death toll had reached 194 by Wednesday. About 2,790 heads of livestock had also been washed away and 760 grain containers demolished. Between 6,000 and 10,000 people had been displaced from their homes. Omorate, sometimes called Kelem, is near the Ethiopian-Kenyan border. The Dasanech tribe is one of the diverse ethnic groups in the Omo valley - a key tourist site in Ethiopia. "The inhabitants of the area are pastoralists and are scattered," Gezahegn said. Boats to the rescue The remoteness of the area forced the government to use helicopters and boats to supply aid and transport rescue teams. Sisay Tadesse, the spokesman for the Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Agency (DPPA), said the agency sent aid for 5,000 people on Tuesday. "August was supposed to be a dry month in the area," Gezahegn said. "But there has been heavy rainfall since Friday on the highland areas near the Omo valley and that caused the flood." There was also flooding in other areas of the country, bringing the death toll to more than 400 in a week. Officials said thousands more had been displaced, including in Tigray, where raging water also damaged property after the Tekeze River flooded, affecting 6,000 people. Floodwaters also reportedly killed at least five people in the Amhara and Oromia regional states last week, and officials of the South Gonder zone said the main rivers there flooded 13 villages, killing one and displacing 12,700. Diriba Korecha, team leader of the government's Weather Forecasting and Early Warning Team at the National Meteorology Agency, said such incidents might continue. "Sporadic heavy rainfall is expected in Tigray, Amhara, Oromia, Benishangul-Gumuz and the Southern Nations and Nationalities People’s Region and this might cause the overflow of the main rivers as well as flash floods," he added. On Tuesday, the meteorology agency announced that heavy rains were still expected in some parts of the eastern, northeastern, and northern part of the country. In New York, the United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Tuesday pledged the UN's support to those affected by the floods. "The Secretary-General is deeply saddened over the loss of life and damage caused by the recent flooding in Dire Dawa and South Omo, Ethiopia," his spokesman, Stéphane Dujarric, said. tw/sa/mw/eo