guidelinesandproposalforfoodsecurityassessmentin north（guidelinesandproposalforfoodsecurityassessmentin北）.doc

Afar Region – Awash River Floods By Yves Guinand, UN-Emergencies Unit for Ethiopia Rapid Assessment Mission: 7 – 10 September, 1999 Introduction and background The UN-Emergencies Unit (UN-EUE) deployed a rapid assessment mission to flooded areas along Awash river following national newspaper articles, informal reports by a DPPC/UNICEF visit to Afar Region and further information brought to the UN-Emergencies Unit by locally based NGOs. The mission’s objective was to obtain an overview of the actual flood and emergency situation and observe ongoing emergency relief operations. Furthermore, the mission tried to assess possible gaps and needs in terms of humanitarian aid to the flood victims. The Awash river basin is mostly located in the arid lowlands of Afar Region in the north eastern part of Ethiopia. It frequently floods in August/September following heavy rains in the eastern highland and escarpment areas. A number of tributary rivers draining the highlands eastwards can increase the water level of the Awash river in a short period of time and cause flooding in the low-lying alluvial plains along the river course. Certain areas which frequently, almost seasonally, get inundated are marshlands such as the area between the towns of Debel and Gewane in the vicinity of Lake Yardi and the lower plains around Dubti down to Lake Abe in the administrative Zone 1 of Afar Region. The third area which often floods is the southern part of administrative Zone 3, about 30 kilometres north of Awash town in the vicinity of Melka Werer (see map in annex for geographical location of mentioned places visited). Afar Region, predominately populated by nomadic and semi-nomadic pastoralists, is generally not known for settled agriculture. But the riverside land, especially the flat lowlands, is fertile and in parts intensively cultivated and relatively densely populated. Certain areas were developed by the former socialist government into large irrigated state farm plant