Hiiraan Online
By Shafi’i Mohyaddin
Saturday, April 26, 2014
At least four people including children have died of thirst in villages in the central Galgaduud and Hiiraan regions in Somalia due to a severe lack of water in the regions whose people are mostly pastoralists.
Villages close to Maxaas and Matabaan districts in the Hiriaan region are said to be the worst-hit areas where lack of clean water to drink might engulf more lives.
The leader of the region’s youth umbrella Mohamed Abdullahi Buraale has toured the affected villages in a bid to draw the world’s attention to the crisis in the two regions.
In an interview with HOL the youth leader said that an emergency life-saving move was necessary.
“When the news about the lack of water in the remote villages came to us we immediately decided to visit the areas and in response to the hardship we sent two water tank trucks to try to at least protect some lives” Mr. Buraale said in his interview with HOL on Saturday.
“The surprising experience I can tell you was that the thirst people and their livestock immediately run toward us when we opened the water tank trucks —you can understand that the thirst affected all walks of life in the similar way” Mr. Buraale expressed.
“We have seen a women who gave birth and couldn’t have even a cup of water to drink—that was one of the very shocking experiences we witnessed” The Hiiraan region’s youth umbrella chairman told HOL.
He called on the regional administration, the federal government of Somalia and the international aid organisation to urgently respond to the crisis.
The youth leader also sent an alarming call to the region’s Diaspora community and business people to do their utmost to help save more lives.
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