ADDIS ABABA (HAN) December 13, 2015 – Public Diplomacy and Regional Stability Initiatives News. A meeting of the National Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Committee chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Demeke Mekonen said on Monday (December 7) that the number of people needing food aid due to the El Nino phenomenon drought will rise to 10.2 million in January.
The Secretary of the Committee, Mitiku Kassa, said the The government has been distributing emergency food aid at a larger scale in the areas hit by the drought and so far it has spent 3 billion birr for the relief efforts. He said major relief efforts were underway in the worst affected 186 woredas.
The United Nations World Food Program is undertaking a school feeding program for 916 schools located in drought affected areas while the Government has also supplied materials worth 42 million birr to the students in those schools.
Overall, the Government is supplying relief food through its own efforts as pledges made by donors are not yet available. The meeting assessed the latest information on the impact of the poor belg and meher rains on agriculture, health, water, education and nutrition.
It also reviewed the drought relief efforts and discussed further action and appropriate strategies to address drought-related issues. The Committee also decided to make further efforts to sensitize donors about the magnitude of the problem as the effects of the drought will continue until December next year, after the main rains next year. MFA
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