Torrential Rains & Floods Hit Drought-Weakened Sahel - 600K Either Homeless Or Face Starvation - NYT

[hatrack]

Torrential rains and flash floods that swept through cities and villages in West Africa in late August have intensified a food crisis in the region, leaving upwards of 10 million people suffering from severe food shortages, the United Nations and relief organizations warned last week. The floods, which destroyed crops and livestock, struck an area already on the brink of famine after successive years of drought and failed harvests.

Rising world grain prices, resulting partly from the heat wave and drought that destroyed wheat crops across Russia this summer, are compounding the crisis, relief organizations said.

“Imported food in the markets is already too expensive for those most in need, and the current uncertainty in the global food market is likely to push prices higher still,” Cristina Ruiz, a relief worker with Christian Aid, said in a statement.

The crisis is worst in landlocked Niger, where as many as 400,000 children are at risk of dying of starvation or disease because of malnutrition, the aid group Feed the Children said. With national food reserves gone, some in the country have resorted to eating boiled weeds, according to news reports. An additional 200,000 people have been left homeless by the recent flash floods. In early August, a shortfall of international aid forced the United Nations World Food Program to suspend food aid to families with children over the age of 2 in Niger.

EDIT

http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/07/central-african-food-crisis-worsens/?scp=1&sq=Niger+++drought&st=cse

[Nihil]

1. Ah well ...

... 400,000 down, several billion still to go ... it's early days yet ...

:shrug:

[Bigmack]

2. From those who have nothing,

more shall be taken.....