U.S. Agency for
International Development (USAID) Administrator Gayle Smith announced today
that the United States is dispatching a Disaster Assistance Response Team
(DART) to Ethiopia to help avert a crisis triggered by El Niño. The drought
follows successive poor rainy seasons and is one of the worst to hit the
country in decades.
The DART, an elite team of disaster experts, will provide
technical assistance to the Government of Ethiopia, conduct humanitarian assessments,
and coordinate with the Ethiopia Government and humanitarian organizations on
the ground to bring vital humanitarian aid - including emergency food
assistance, seeds to plant new crops, safe drinking water, and nutrition
treatments - to those in need. Administrator Smith also announced $4 million in
drought-tolerant seeds that will help ensure that over 226,000 households can
grow additional life-saving food in the coming months.
Working
with the Government of Ethiopia, the United Nations, and other partners, USAID
has mounted an early and robust response that includes scaling up humanitarian
assistance and modifying development programs to meet the immediate needs of
those most impacted. The El Niño weather phenomenon is affecting multiple regions
around the world, and the impact in Ethiopia has inflicted a particularly
severe drought.
The United States has provided more than $532 million in
humanitarian assistance to reach more than 4 million Ethiopians since October
2014, including emergency food assistance, nutrition and health support, and
the provision of safe drinking water. USAID has tapped into pre-positioned
relief commodities to help meet increased humanitarian needs and provide
support to the United Nations to jump-start the pipeline of relief supplies.
Additionally, USAID has activated emergency funds in development programs to
help households meet their immediate needs without selling assets-such as
livestock-that provide a source of income and nutrition.
"With the
announcement of the DART, we are acting to prevent a major humanitarian crisis
and protect Ethiopia's hard-earned development progress," said
Administrator Smith. "Other donors must also step-up their responses
now."
The Government of Ethiopia estimates that 10.2 million
people are in need of relief food assistance in addition to the approximately 8
million people who are chronically food insecure and receive assistance through
the Productive Safety Net Program (PNSP), which annually addresses these needs
through the seasonal transfer of food and cash resources, as well as the
creation of assets that generate economic benefit to local communities. Current
projections estimate that hundreds of thousands of children may experience
severe acute malnutrition in 2016, and 2 million people are in need of safe
drinking water.
El Niño poses a
threat to the livelihoods and well-being of millions against a backdrop of
development progress in a country historically plagued by famine. USAID has
supported Ethiopia's efforts to reduce extreme poverty and build the resilience
of Ethiopia's most vulnerable people to help them cope with recurring droughts.
The worst impacts of this drought still lie ahead and the
scale and severity of this crisis is expected to far outstrip available
resources. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs estimates that $268 million is needed to help meet the needs of those
affected over the next 3 months. It is imperative that the international
community, alongside the Government of Ethiopia, mobilizes the necessary
financial and human resources now to save lives and ensure that tens of
millions of people are not plunged into extreme poverty.
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