New humanitarian snapshot highlights worsening food insecurity and water shortages in Ethiopia
Pocket areas that received inadequate seasonal rainfall in 2014 and/or had a poor harvest due to flooding or crop disease will remain vulnerable in early 2015. Released on 18 February, the nutrition hotspot classification for the first quarter of 2015 identified 338 nutrition hotspot woredas for priority intervention. The classification team also identified woredas that require emergency WaSH intervention.
FOOD SECURITY
Food insecurity is worsening in belg/gu/ganna/sugum rain-receiving areas, as the dry season reaches its peak. The belg (mid-February-May) rains are delayed, while the gu/ganna/sugum rains in the lowlands of Afar, Oromia and Somali regions are expected in mid-March. Delayed rains and the expected below-average seasonal rainfall performance will impact belg planting, as well as water and pasture availability in pastoralist areas.
REFUGEE
Ethiopia hosts the largest refugee population in Africa
656,199 registered refugees in Ethiopia
251,545 South Sudanese refugees
196,000 new arrivals in Gambella since mid-December 2013.
UNHCR and partners continue to respond to the sudden spike in Eritrean refugees, who are the fastest growing refugee population in the country since October 2014. Even though nearly 125,000 Eritreans are registered as refugees, the actual refugee population is believed to be a third of that figure as a result of secondary movements.
33,000 new Eritrean arrivals registered in 2014 (including unaccompanied minors)