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Further flood victims given Overseas Aid money

Further flood victims given Overseas Aid money

Monday 17 October 2022

Further flood victims given Overseas Aid money

Monday 17 October 2022


Guernsey's Overseas Aid and Development Commission has made a further contribution to help people affected by droughts and floods in Somalia and South Sudan respectively.

This follows previous, recent donations to help people in Pakistan, Yemen and Myanmar.

The OADC said it has been monitoring growing disaster scenarios in poorer countries.

Following this, the Commission has agreed to make an Award of £50,000 to Plan International UK "to help alleviate the impending famine in Somalia".

The donation will help to provide water, food, hygiene / health supplies, and child protection to drought-affected areas.

Water-stream.jpg

Pictured: The money will help people who don't have safe drinking water as a result of droughts.

The Commission has also made a £48,080 Award to the Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust (HART) for food relief to South Sudan in the wake of floods. Somalia is undergoing the worst drought in four decades.

This is part of a wider crisis affecting East Africa, exacerbated by Russia’s blockade of Ukrainian grain exports.

The OADC said malnourishment was already widespread in the region, but unfolding drought is threatening to leave "millions of livestock dead and communities ripped apart as families migrate in search of good and grazing".

The total number of people affected is projected to be 7.1 million and it's projected that in the crisis-affected zones, 54% of infants under 5 are malnourished and adolescent girls and young women face sexual and gender-based violence.

Plan International will use the funds to help distribute food, particularly for lactating women and under 5s, as well as to replenish wells, provide school feeding programs, and set up a community-based child protection group.

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Pictured: Floods have affected parts of Pakistan as well as South Sudan.

Due to climate change one million people had already been displaced over the past five years, prior to the current floods affecting South Sudan.

500,000 people are now in need of emergency assistance following the fourth consecutive year of flooding. The crops of subsistence farmers have been submerged and 65% of the displaced population are children.

The money donated by Guernsey's Overseas Aid and Development Commission will allow the Charity, HART to deliver food supplies of sorghum and wheat, as well as non-food items such as mosquito nets and plastic sheets for shelter roofing, for 6,000 people.

This follows the Commission recently awarding four Disaster and Emergency Relief Awards to help to alleviate the effects of monsoon floods in Pakistan, floods and conflict in Yemen, and to assist Myanmar Refugees living on the border with India.

The Commission made donations of £50,000 to the British Red Cross to help alleviate the ongoing effects of the severe Monsoon Floods in Pakistan; £50,000 to Action for Humanity to help people affected by floods and conflict in Yemen; and £35,000 to Health & Hope UK to assist refugees from Myanmar located on the border with India.

The Commission had also previously made a donation of £20,000 to the United Kingdom for UNHCR Pakistan Floods appeal.

Deputy Chris Blin

Pictured: Deputy Chris Blin, President of the Overseas Aid and Development Commission.

Deputy Chris Blin, the President of the OA&DC, said: “We have received an unprecedented number of Disaster and Emergency Relief Award applications in the last few weeks and the Commission, on behalf of the Island, is responding as swiftly as it can to help. It has made six Awards within a month and many of these have at least been partially related to climate change which is a great concern.

"Fortunately, as we received fewer applications in the first six months of this year, all of the current Awards can be made from our existing budget.

"Somalia and South Sudan have both been dealing with decades of conflict and recurrent natural disasters, and yet it’s hard to understand the scale of various disasters hitting East Africa at present. So, I’m very happy that we can support Plan International UK and the Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust, both of whom we have worked with before and have many years’ experience in the respective regions.”

Pictured: The Kibera slum, a previous recipient of a donation from Guernsey's Overseas Aid and Development Commission.

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