IOM Ethiopia is today distributing non-food aid to 90 households displaced by severe flooding in Aysaita woreda (district), Afar Regional State. 

The distribution, which began on Wednesday (9/9) in close coordination with the local authorities and other stakeholders, is funded by ECHO – the European Union’s Humanitarian Aid Department – and includes large plastic sheets for shelter, blankets, cooking pots, kettles, other cookware and utensils.

Head of the district Pastoralist Office Mohammed Abdulkadir said that this was the first time the humanitarian community had provided non-food aid to displaced people in Aysaita. “Prior to IOM’s intervention, when similar displacements occurred, we could only provide food for the victims,” he noted.

His district is working with the region to avoid similar flooding by building dikes to divert water courses, strengthening early warning system and promoting relocation for communities living in flood-prone areas, he said.

IOM previously distributed 500 non-food item (NFI) kits in the Afar region.  It also plans to work with the district, regional and national disaster response task force to distribute and additional 1,010 kits in Dubti and Gulina in the near future.

For more information, please contact Alemayehu Seifeselassie at IOM Ethiopia, Tel: +251.91.163.9082, Email: salemayehu@iom.int