Search and rescue teams kept up frantic efforts yesterday to save thousands marooned by fatal flash floods in southwest Ethiopia where relief workers reported near total devastation.
With poor weather continuing to hamper operations, officials said the death toll in the remote Omo River valley would rise above the current figure of 364, possibly sending the nationwide tally from recent flooding soaring.
Already, nearly 900 people in southern, eastern and northern Ethiopia have been reported dead or missing in the past two weeks, and between 5,000 to 8,000 people in 14 inundated villages in the south remain stranded, they said.
Helicopter pilots at a military base in Arba Minch -- about 500km southwest of Addis Ababa from where relief flights are taking off -- said they had hadn't been able to rescue all of those stranded.
"We were able to airlift about 400 people to higher ground yesterday," one pilot said on condition of anonymity.
"Our flight spotted another 1,000 or so people stranded, but we weren't able to land," he said.
Where the pilot was able to land and speak to survivors, he said they spoke of horrendous suffering from the floods that washed away family members, livestock and homes when the Omo River burst its banks on Sunday.
"It is horrifying and heartbreaking," he said. "Their stories are pushing us to do more to rescue people at any cost."
Air drops of food, clean water and blankets continued as uncertain currents from raging flood waters prevented both helicopters and boats from reaching affected areas where officials said they feared outbreaks of disease.
"The people are in need of urgent help because there is an increased risk for malaria and other waterborne diseases," said Atu Lema, the secretary general of southern branch of the Ethiopian Red Cross.
"As we are speaking there are heavy rains ... roads have been cut off we are having a problem taking relief supplies by road to the region," he said as he accompanied a relief convoy in the south.
He described the devastation as "massive" and said the loss of livestock and destruction of granaries would have long-lasting impacts on local populations.
Thousands gathered across New Zealand yesterday to celebrate the signing of the country’s founding document and some called for an end to government policies that critics say erode the rights promised to the indigenous Maori population. As the sun rose on the dawn service at Waitangi where the Treaty of Waitangi was first signed between the British Crown and Maori chiefs in 1840, some community leaders called on the government to honor promises made 185 years ago. The call was repeated at peaceful rallies that drew several hundred people later in the day. “This government is attacking tangata whenua [indigenous people] on all
The administration of US President Donald Trump has appointed to serve as the top public diplomacy official a former speech writer for Trump with a history of doubts over US foreign policy toward Taiwan and inflammatory comments on women and minorities, at one point saying that "competent white men must be in charge." Darren Beattie has been named the acting undersecretary for public diplomacy and public affairs, a senior US Department of State official said, a role that determines the tone of the US' public messaging in the world. Beattie requires US Senate confirmation to serve on a permanent basis. "Thanks to
UNDAUNTED: Panama would not renew an agreement to participate in Beijing’s Belt and Road project, its president said, proposing technical-level talks with the US US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday threatened action against Panama without immediate changes to reduce Chinese influence on the canal, but the country’s leader insisted he was not afraid of a US invasion and offered talks. On his first trip overseas as the top US diplomat, Rubio took a guided tour of the canal, accompanied by its Panamanian administrator as a South Korean-affiliated oil tanker and Marshall Islands-flagged cargo ship passed through the vital link between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. However, Rubio was said to have had a firmer message in private, telling Panama that US President Donald Trump
‘IMPOSSIBLE’: The authors of the study, which was published in an environment journal, said that the findings appeared grim, but that honesty is necessary for change Holding long-term global warming to 2°C — the fallback target of the Paris climate accord — is now “impossible,” according to a new analysis published by leading scientists. Led by renowned climatologist James Hansen, the paper appears in the journal Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development and concludes that Earth’s climate is more sensitive to rising greenhouse gas emissions than previously thought. Compounding the crisis, Hansen and colleagues argued, is a recent decline in sunlight-blocking aerosol pollution from the shipping industry, which had been mitigating some of the warming. An ambitious climate change scenario outlined by the UN’s climate
RSS