Effect of The 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake On Somalia - Aftermath

Aftermath

Around 12 tons of rice, maize and vegetable oil were delivered to Hafun on 30 December, four days after the tsunami. Previous attempts to deliver aid failed after trucks were unable to pass tsunami damaged roads near Foar, a village of 1000 people living in mud-and-wattle huts that had been destroyed. The main sand bridge which connects the Hafun peninsula to the mainland was damaged, so the twelve tonnes were then transferred onto two four-wheel drive vehicles that managed the 60 km (37 mi) trip from Foar to Hafun in seven hours. The UN warned that the tsunami had worsened the situation after four years of drought in northern Somalia and that further aid was desperately needed. It has distributed 200 tonnes of food aid to 12,000 people, but states that food for 30,000 is needed. The UN had four teams in the area and on 4 January appealed for US$13,000,000 to assist 54,000 Somalis affected by the tsunami. As part of the flash inter-agency appeal of US$977,000,000 made by the UN Secretary-General on 6 January, USD10,000,000 was requested for Somalia. In February, the U.S. government made one million dollars available for tsunami relief in Somalia.

Much of the remote 1,000 km (620 mi) coast is controlled by various clan-based militias, making obtaining accurate information difficult. Relief officials were unable to make observation flights because of the fear of being fired upon by anti-aircraft batteries. The transitional Somali government was based in Nairobi, Kenya because the capital city of Mogadishu was too unsafe. Prime Minister Ali Mohammed Ghedi cancelled a trip on 4 January 2005, which would have been his first visit to Somalia since being appointed.