[ti:Hundreds of Thousands of Somalis Displaced by Drought, Conflict]
[by:www.21voa.com]
[00:00.00]更多听力请访问21VOA.COM
[00:01.36]Drought and conflict have caused a new displacement crisis
[00:06.20]in the southern part of Somalia.
[00:09.27]Gerard Waite is chief of mission for the International Organization for Migration Somalia.
[00:18.36]He said about 800,000 people fled their homes over the past seven months.
[00:27.04]This is in addition to the 1.1 million people already displaced in the country.
[00:35.81]"We have a displacement crisis on top of a drought crisis," Waite said.
[00:42.33]He also said that the newly displaced people have put heavy pressure on existing camps.
[00:51.80]"These camps are, by and large, not very well managed.
[00:57.88]They are normally on private land in very cramped conditions.
[01:03.36]They do not have the basic services in these camps," Waite said.
[01:08.55]The displaced people are not living in healthy conditions,
[01:12.84]and are forced to drink unclean water.
[01:16.96]This has caused over 71,000 cases of cholera
[01:22.49]or severe diarrhea in 2017, resulting in nearly 1,100 deaths.
[01:32.32]"Water shortages have meant that people are drinking higher-risk water,
[01:37.92]taking water which they know to be contaminated
[01:41.36]but they drink it anyway," Waite said.
[01:45.32]Climate experts say the recent rainy season was well below average this year.
[01:51.91]It usually lasts from April to June.
[01:56.16]The next rainy season is not expected until October,
[02:01.04]but experts warn there will be heavy crop losses.
[02:05.26]In addition, climate estimates suggest that there is a 45 percent chance
[02:12.68]of an El Ni?o weather event late in 2017.
[02:18.04]That could cause a further reduction in rain.
[02:22.52]An El Ni?o is an irregular weather event usually resulting
[02:27.75]in warmer-than-average temperatures in some places around the world.
[02:33.44]Waite said about 6.7 million people in Somalia
[02:38.52]are either suffering or near suffering from a food crisis.
[02:44.00]According to Waite, the International Organization for Migration
[02:49.20]has learned from Somalia's drought in 2011.
[02:53.36]In that period of extremely dry weather,
[02:56.40]200,000 people are believed to have died.
[03:01.04]"The need to deliver health systems to these places
[03:05.20]is extremely pressing," Waite said.
[03:09.00]However, he said they are also trying to work with the Somali government
[03:14.92]to create spaces that are better controlled and managed.
[03:20.04]Somalia's finance minister, Abdirahman Duale Beyle,
[03:25.40]told VOA in May that the droughts in Somalia are cyclical.
[03:31.16]He also said Somalia has become too dependent on external aid.
[03:38.00]"We have to change that kind of attitude," Beyle said.
[03:42.60]There are projects meant to prepare Somalia for droughts, however.
[03:47.72]The IOM, for example, is introducing drought-resistant potatoes.
[03:54.13]The U.N. Development Program is helping with several projects,
[03:59.72]including creating below-surface water tanks, wells,
[04:04.35]and community water storage ponds in Somaliland.
[04:09.44]Beyle said now is the time for Somalis themselves
[04:13.76]to take responsibility for solving the problem.
[04:17.56]"We have the technology, the intelligence and the know-how
[04:22.68]to break the link between drought and famine," he said.
[04:26.92]I'm Phil Dierking. 更多听力请访问21VOA.COM