- Mid last month, 594,861 people in five counties of the Coast—Kwale, Kilifi, Tana River, Lamu and Taita Taveta—were in dire need of relief food.
- In two-week’s time, the number of persons affected by drought at the Coast has risen by over 83,000, according to data from KRCS.
Image: Solomon Muingi
The number of people affected by the drought at the Kenyan Coast has risen to 678,000, the Kenya Red Cross Society has said.
Mid last month, 594,861 people in five counties of the Coast—Kwale, Kilifi, Tana River, Lamu and Taita Taveta—were in dire need of relief food.
In two week’s time, the number of persons affected by drought at the Coast has risen by over 83,000, according to data from KRCS.
Countrywide, there are more than 4.35 million Kenyans, who are in dire need of humanitarian assistance.
On Wednesday, KRCS deputy secretary general Annete Msabeni said the drought situation in the country is worsening by the day.
Msabeni said there is urgent need for humanitarian assistance for the victims to be supported with water, food, and health interventions.
"Here in Coast we have 678,000 people who have been affected by the drought and the number is increasing. The most affected are children under five years, pregnant women and the lactating mothers,” she said.
According to Msabeni, KRCS has so far received relief food worth Sh58 million from well-wishers which will be distributed to 12,000 households (72,000 people) in four counties that are highly affected by the drought in the region.
She said in Kilifi they will be distributing relief food to 3,000 households.
“This is food that has been donated by well-wishers such as the Tawfiq family, and several other well-wishers,” she said.
The Deputy SG said their focus was on saving lives and long-term mitigation measures to ensure families do not get back into those difficult situations.
Msabeni said there are also increased cases of children dropping out of school.
She said most of the drought victims have insufficient food, and water.
This is because most water sources that have dried forcing people to walk long distances in search of the commodity.
Countrywide, she said, there is more than 2.5 million livestock that has been lost which is affecting the livelihoods of those families and nutrition.
She said in the coastal region, KRCS together with other partners, has been rehabilitating water facilities, distributing food, and health outreaches targeting children under five years who are malnourished.
“We have also done livestock offtake together with the government as part of protecting the family assets,” she said.
Ruwa Kalama, a resident of Kaloleni subcounty in Kilifi county said people have no food and children are dropping out of school.
He said there is so far an outbreak of diseases among children as the residents have no access to clean water.
Kalama said residents have to walk for long distances in search for water.
“We have so many challenges yet some of the people are saying there is no problem, this is wrong," he said.
Harriet Jefwa a resident of Nyallani village in Kaloleni subcounty said they spend nights in wells in search of water because of the scarcity of the commodity.
“We spent the whole of last night at the well and we will have to wait for a whole week to go back and get more water. So the truth is as Jibana people, we are appealing for help, we are really suffering,” she said.
Currently, she said washing clothes and bathing are not a priority because of the challenges of drought, adding that people are going for over three days without taking a bath.
She said the recent food distribution by the government only targeted people living with disability and orphans yet there are so many others who are affected.
Last month, KRCS Coast regional manager Hassan Musa said Kwale is the most affected county with drought where over 198,350 people are in dire need of relief food.
Kilifi has 149,000 residents affected, Tana River 92,000 people, Lamu (80,000), and Taita Taveta (75,551).
In terms of livestock that are in danger of dying due to the prolonged dry spell, the Coast region’s 357,310 livestock population has been affected.
Kilifi’s 233,810 animals are at the brink of death, Tana River’s 100,000 livestock head are also affected, whereas Taita Taveta has 15,000 animals that might die due to drought.
Lamu county in the north Coast has about 4,500 head of cattle that have been affected by the dry weather while Kwale has 3,000 animals.
On Wednesday, Taita Taveta Governor Andrew Mwadime said the number of people affected by hunger in his county has risen to approximately 150,000.
He said Taita Taveta will receive 25,000kgs of maize and beans from KRCS.
“To salvage livestock farmers in the county, 2,800 bags of livestock feeds will also be distributed,” Mwadime said.
He spoke during a meeting with the County Multi-sectoral Committee to plan on the distribution of relief food.
Last month, Kwale Governor Fatma Achani said they require at least Sh217 million to effectively combat the drought situation in her region.
Kwale’s worst-hit areas are Kinango, Samburu, and Lunga-Lunga subcounties. Some parts of Msambweni and Matuga are affected.
Achani said they require at least Sh80 million for rehabilitation of the Nyalani dam, which is slowly drying off because of the dry weather.
Kwale also needs another Sh20 million for repair of boreholes and Sh110 million for the livestock offtake and feeding programme.
Additionally, Achani said they further need Sh7 million for animal vaccination and treatment programmes.