More than 500 people have died in floods in Somalia and relief workers are worried about outbreaks of cholera and other diseases in the coming weeks, an aid agency said yesterday. The UN and the Organisation of African Unity say as many as 800,000 people live in areas in southern Somalia affected by the floods and an estimated 200,000 have been directly hit.
Ms Wendy Driscoll of Care International said 516 people had died in the floods in Somalia since last month, including 72 in the 24 hours up to yesterday afternoon. "Real concerns in coming weeks are about cholera, malaria and dysentry," she said.
Ms Lynn Geldof, spokeswoman for the Somalia Inter-Agency Field Response, said all roads were cut, bridges were under water or washed away and all but a handful of airstrips were out of action.
The UN World Food Programme (WFP) said the crisis was much bigger than reported. "The situation in the lower Juba valley is getting critical for tens of thousands of people," said Ms Michelle Quintaglie of the WFP in Nairobi. She said the worst-affected areas were around the town of Bardera, where reporters found 40,000 stranded people on Tuesday.
Ms Quintaglie said WFP had started a relief operation using a Buffalo plane in north-east Kenya. She said boats, medicines, shelter materials and food would start moving into Somalia today.