2011 Horn of Africa Crisis and Famine

RAIN SHORTAGESouthern Somalia has suffered a rain shortage, or complete loss of rain this past year. The short rains of 2010 October-December were absent, and the long rains of 2011 April-June were poor (5). Which “resulted in the worst annual crop production in 17 years, excess animal mortality, and very high food prices” according to USAID (5). On the map to the left shows the eMODIS NDVI for July 2011 Short-term Mean Anomaly. “Anomalies represent a subtraction of the mean NDVI values (2001-2010) for a 10-day period from current-year values for the same period, rendering and image where negative values portray less vigorous vegetation than average, and positive values represent areas that are more vigorous in the current year”, states the comments for eMODIS NDVI layer (3).

Created by Shaylea Allen, Student, Salt Lake Community College, GEOG 2100 – Maps & Measurements Project.Cartographer of top row maps, and bottom right.

Bottom left map was retrieved from http://tiles.mapbox.com/usaid-horn/map/map_1316101016537.

References1. Refugee Camps – FEW layer retrieved from http://esrilabs2.esri.com/ArcGIS/rest/services/Famine/refugee_camps/MapServer2. Limited Humanitarian Access – FEWS layer retrieved from http://esrilabs2.esri.com/ArcGIS/rest/services/Famine/conflict_areas/MapServer.3. eMODIS NDVI layer retrieved from http://esrilabs2.esri.com/ArcGIS/rest/services/Famine/AfricaFamine_NDVI/MapServer.4. Drought Mortality layer retrieved from http://esrilabs2.esri.com/ArcGIS/rest/services/Famine/DroughtMortality/MapServer5. (2011). Famine continues; observed improvements contingent on continued response. USAID. Retrieved from http://www.fews.net/pages/Horn-of-Africa-Emergency.aspx6. (2011). Somali Registered Refugee Population. UNHCR The UN Refugee Agency Refugees in the Horn of Africa: Somali Displacement Crisis Information Sharing Portal. Retrieved from

http://data.unhcr.org/horn-of-africa/regional.php.7. (2011). USAID Horn of Africa Famine Response Data. Retrieved from http://www.usaid.gov/data/. 8. (2011). 2011 UNHCR country operations profile – Somalia. UNHCR The UN Refugee Agency. Retrieved from http://www.unhcr.org/pages/49e483ad6.html. 9. 2011 November 21. Somalia profile. BBC> Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14094503. 10. 2011 August 10. East Africa: High Food Prices Exacerbate Crisis in Drought- Affected Horn of Africa – UN. UN News Service. Retrieved from http://allafrica.com/stories/201108101346.html.

FOOD PRICE RISEThe image on the bottom left, shows monthly market pricing for 19 staple cereals, the percent of change from July 2010 to July 2011 for Djibouti, Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia (7). The Food Insecurity Images above show food security conditions for July 2011, and the prediction or outlook for August – December of 2011 (1, 7). The limited supply of food, and the higher fuel cost has driven food prices to record highs (9).

CONFLICTSomali a has been a war zone for the past twenty years. Rebels have taken over much of the country, “Somalia has been without an effective central government since President Siad Barre was overthrown in 1991”, according to BBC (9). Making south and central Somalia too dangerous for humanitarian aid to be delivered (8). In the map on the top left you can see the area where there is limited humanitarian access according to USAID (2).

REFUGEESThis forced people to relocate in search of the necessities, traveling for miles in hopes of finding help. Some of the surrounding countries took in refugees. According to UNHCR The UN Refugee Agency 951,605 individuals is the total Somali refugee population; Kenya is hosting 520,028 individuals as of December 4, 2011, Yemen is hosting 202,904 as of November 30, 2011, Ethiopia is hosting 182,399 as of December 2011, Uganda is hosting 22,146 as of October 31, 2011, Djibouti is hosting 18,748 as of October 31, 2011, Eritrea is hosting 3,865 as of October 31, 2011, and Tanzania is hosting 1,515 as of October 14, 2011 (6).