ReliefWeb

Brief Summary

Calls this week (18-24 August 2022) to Radio Ergo’s independent audience feedback platform reflected similar concerns over deepening drought and livelihood crises as in previous weeks, with more callers talking about the lack of support for those displaced by the drought. Callers spoke of water and food shortage and very high prices. Several complained about lack of water infrastructure or broken machinery constraining water access. The following summarises the calls by theme.

Drought and water shortage – in Togdher, Somaliland, several callers said they were displaced and lacked basic needs. A caller in Ainabo said many displaced there needed water aid. A female caller in Buhodle said they were IDPs in Kahandale lacking food and water. Another in Buhodle said many people migrating from Lasanod had joined camps there and they lacked aid. A caller in Togdher said their livestock were sick and they were unable to access water from Baradi dam.

Several callers in Yufle, Garadag, and other parts of Sanag called for water and food aid to be delivered. One in Aroweyn said prices were high and they had not received aid promised last year from the Bahnano fund. In Puntland, several callers in Bari and Nugal spoke of continuing drought and water scarcity. A Puntland businesswoman selling flour and cooking oil said customers were complaining about the high prices. In Mudug callers from Galkayo, El-dibir, Dhure, Bur-Salah complained of dire drought and water shortage and livestock disease. A pastoralist in Bandiradley said they were losing their livestock and they needed food aid.

In Galgadud, several callers in Abudwak said drought was getting worse and fodder was short. One said they were displaced from the rural areas and had been neglected by the government. A caller in Galmegag a caller said water and food were becoming scarce and the children and elderly were suffering. He also complained that the Bahnano aid had been cancelled. In Hiran, a female caller in Beletweyne said they had become IDPs and faced hardship. Others said the water shortage was affecting farms and livestock. In Gedo, callers in Bardera, Dhuro, El-ade, and Dollow reported the drought affecting people, farms, and livestock. A female caller in Dollow said they were IDPs and almost starving without any help. Farmers in Wanlaweyn, L. Shabelle, said the drought had forced them to leave their farms and they were displaced. In Lower Juba, a farmer in Yontoy said they were near the river Juba and they needed help with generators to access water. A farmer in Kismayo said their water pump had broken down and he wanted people in the community to help them replace it.

Livestock – herders from different regions called about livestock diseases affecting goats especially and asked for treatment and advice or intervention.

Rain – a few callers in Sool, Hiran, and one in Jowhar said they had received a little rainfall but it was not clear how sustained it would be nor what difference it would make.

Education – a caller in Galkayo complained that the supposedly free textbooks issued by the Puntland government were being sold in the market place.