GENEVA (AFP) — The Red Cross on Wednesday revised its emergency appeal for Ethiopia to five million euros (7.9 million dollars) as the situation in the drought-hit south of the country got worse.
“Over the past two months the situation has worsened and living conditions have deteriorated. People have exhausted all their resources and are unable to feed themselves.
“We must step up our response,” said Lorenzo Violante, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies’ drought operations manager in Addis Ababa.
The funds would go towards helping over 76,000 people, including providing emergency food aid, as well as improving access to water and promoting hygiene, the IFRC said in a statement.
An aid operation had started in May to help 40,000 people in the southern Ethiopian village of Damot Pulasa, but it has now been expanded to help another 36,000 people in neighbouring Damot Gale.
Ethiopia was hit with severe floods last year which destroyed most of the food crops, while this year a drought has worsened the situation, leading to food prices that soared 330 percent.
Over 16,000 children in the two villages are acutely malnourished, said Fasika Kebede, Secretary General of the Ethiopian Red Cross.
“The situation can only deteriorate if we are not able to intervene efficiently,” he added.