ENVIRONMENT AND DISASTERS

MOGADISHU — The European Union on Friday announced to provide 11 million U.S. dollars to help tackle desert locust outbreak in Somalia. The EU said the outbreak could have devastating consequences on food security in a vulnerable country like Somalia, where one million people are already severely food insecure and …

CAPITALS — The East African region could be on the verge of a food crisis if huge swarms of locusts devouring crops and pasture are not brought under control. A massive food assistance may be required, Dominique Burgeon, director of emergencies for the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), said. …

MOGADISHU —  Somalia declared the worst desert locust invasion in a quarter-century a national emergency that’s posing a major threat to an already fragile food situation. Swarms of the insects are breeding in Djibouti, Eritrea, and Sudan and have also spread to neighboring Kenya and Ethiopia where they are devouring swaths …

ADDIS ABABA — The most serious outbreak of locusts in 25 years is spreading across East Africa and posing an unprecedented threat to food security in some of the world’s most vulnerable countries, authorities say. Unusual climate conditions are partly to blame. The locust swarms hang like shimmering dark clouds on …

BELETWEYNE  — Farmers in central Somalia’s Hiran region, whose farms were submerged by recent floods, are having to contend with swarms of locust devouring whatever they have planted since then. Kadiye Abdi Gadod, a farmer in Hodug, 34 km west of Beletweyne town, told Radio Ergo that locust swarms have …

MOGADISHU (SoOHA) – A massive car bomb exploded in a busy area of Mogadishu on Saturday, leaving at least 78 people dead and scores injured in Somalia’s deadliest attack in two years. At least 16 of those killed were students from the capital’s private Banadir University, who had been traveling on …

MOGADISHU (SoOHA) – Around 3,000 families have fled their homes in villages in Bal’ad in southern Somalia’s Middle Shabelle region, after a dam on the River Shabelle burst. The floodwaters from the dam washed away homes in 16 villages, forcing people to seek help in the district town of Bala’d. …

MOGADISHU(SoOHA) – A group of Somali youth in Lower Shabelle’s agricultural town, Afgoye, have joined hands to build flood-barriers to protect their farms and houses from river floods. Flooding has already forced some families to evacuate their houses in Aytire and Balgure neighborhoods alongside the river Shabelle. Sid-Omar Siidow, the …

MOGADISHU (SoOHA) – Mogadishu administration Tuesday mobilized emergency response units following expected floods in the city which have since displaced hundreds of thousands countrywide. Banaadir Region governor who also doubles as Mogadishu Mayor Omar Mohamud Filish today unveiled fire engines, ambulances, police vehicles and response teams to coordinate emergency response during …

GAROWE (SoOHA) – A reduced-charcoal cooking stove being promoted by the Puntland government is cutting fuel costs for local families and starting to have a positive environmental impact. A total of 4,850 stoves have been distributed by the Puntland government in conjunction with the UN Development Programme (UNDP) to families …