UNITED NATIONS  DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME Emergencies Unit for Ethiopia

SUMMARY

The purpose of the mission was to collect information on the general food situation in South Welo lowland areas and damages in flood stricken weredas. The kremt rains have been good in the whole zone, but excessive rains in the highlands of Were Himeno and Were Ilu, if continued, may cause crop damage and harvest loss. Also, some exceptionally intensive rains have caused flood damages in four weredas of South Welo zone.

The mission also took the opportunity to look into the problem of landsliding, which caused the disruption of the main road through Dessie a year ago and has endangered part of Dessie town. On the way back to Addis Ababa, information was gathered from the zonal RRC office in Debre Berhan concerning the flood disaster in Majete.
 

BELG PRODUCING LOWLANDS OF SOUTH WELO

The lowlands of South Welo are mainly meher dependent, their main production concentrating on long cycle crops such as sorghum and maize, whereas belg planting is generally limited in area and concentrates on the production of teff as a cash crop. The current food shortages in parts of the lowlands of South Welo, are mainly due to an unsatisfactory 1994 meher harvest and, to a lesser extent, to the failure of this year’s belg harvest.

According to the zonal office of Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), the 1995 belg harvest has failed in the lowlands of Ambassel, Mekdela, Tenta, Legambo and Sayint wereas. According to the zonal Relief and Rehabilitation Bureau (RRB), food shortages have so far been reported from Mekdela, Tenta, Kutaber and Wegedi weredas.

The Ethiopian Red Cross Society/International Federation of Red Cross (ERCS/IFRC) is operating in Tenta, assisting 40,000 people until the meher crop harvest, partially upscaled by RRC contributions. Responding to the current situation and actual needs of the wereda, ERCS has re-allocated its distribution plan, providing 58% of its food aid to beneficiaries in the lowlands and the remaining 42% in the highland areas.

Save the Children Fund (UK) continues its food assistance to Sayint, Debre Sina and Wegedi weredas, as part of its allocation plan for the third quarter of the year. With donors not yet ready to engage in multi-annual pledges, the arrival of external food aid is sometimes delayed and the available quantity does not always correspond to actual needs. Confronted with these problem, SCF was not able to pre-position and distribute an adequate quantity of food in the respective weredas before the onset of the kremt rains, resulting in temporary supply interruptions and the need to travel long distances to distribution points (such as Busso). In addition, with a maximum storage capacity of 1,000 mt in Busso, food supplies have to be limited to assist only one or two weredas at a time, another factor impeding timely and even food distributions. Distributions in Sayint have been completed, whereas distribution in Debre Sina was due to start at the end of August or beginning September, subsequently providing storage space for the Wegedi allocation.

According to the results of a joint road assessment carried out at the end of July with the participation of officials from the zonal Administration, Joint Transport Operation (JTO), SCF (UK) and the Transport Operation for Refugees (TOR), the Dessie-Busso road would be accessible for trucks, provided the necessary maintenance and repair works are completed. The zonal administration has taken responsibility for the repair work on this road. At the time of the mission, parts of the road were reported to be accessible again, although the stretch between Busso and Wegedi still remains impassable for trucks. With the planned deployment of labour and equipment by the zonal and wereda Administrations for road maintenance, and the gradual scaling down of kremt rains, Wegedi is expected to become accessible by truck in the near future.

The RRB is to start food distribution in Kutaber wereda, where 2,270 quintals of grain had just arrived at the end of August. The available food stock is expected to be sufficient for a one month ration of 10 kilogrammes per person, for a total of 22,900 beneficiaries. Mekdela, where food shortages have also been reported, is another area that needs to be covered by the RRB allocations.

According to the preliminary results of a nutritional survey conducted by SCK UK in August, the nutritional status in South Welo is satisfactory with an average Weight for Length (WFL) of 92.75%. However, according to the same survey, cereal prices remain very high, exceeding in most parts Birr 200 per quintal.
 

FLOOD AFFECTED WEREDAS IN SOUTH WELO

Until the end of August, the following four weredas had reported various degrees of flooding:

• Debre Sina: Flooding occurred in late July affecting 518 hectares of crop land. As damage occurred early enough for replanting, farmers were able to reseed by their own means and required no external assistance.

• Albuko: Flooding occurred towards end of July and the damage was subsequently assessed by members of the zonal Relief and Rehabilitation Bureau and the Department for Agricultural Development. According to the RRB, 61 households were damaged. About 60 quintals of food from the Harbo distribution site has been allocated to the affected people and blankets are on the way. The assessment also noted that 338 hectares of cropland had been affected by hail and floods (202 hectares and 136 hectares respectively), with an estimated 175 hectares totally damaged. As the occurrence of floods and hails was detected at an early stage, it can be assumed that farmers were able to reseed by their own means.

• Kelala & Legambo: Flooding has been reported in both areas and an assessment team was due to leave Dessie towards the end of August to review the situation. Meanwhile at the time of the field trip, no data was available on the extent of damage.

Majete village has been badly affected by floods. According to the zonal RRB the first floods on the fifth of August resulted in 116 displaced persons, who subsequently received assistance from the RRB. More serious floods during the night between the 17 and 18 August in the village placed half of the dwellings under water, resulting in the death of 44 people. A total of 58 houses were completely destroyed and 200 partially damaged. About 1,378 hectares of cropland were flooded. Out of this amount 1,050 hectares have been reseeded with teff, and 328 hectares could still be seeded with chickpeas, as seeds will be provided by the government. A total of 1,322 people are in need of assistance, with an estimated 870 people in need of food for four months and another 452 for two months. Save the Children Fund (USA) and the RRB have provided a first round of emergency food and OXFAM has donated clothing. SCF UK has agreed to cover about half of the food needs and other organisations may also intervene with further assistance.

Besides the required relief and rehabilitation activities, upstream conditions and the actual geographic location of Majete village should be studied and short to long term measures initiated in order to prevent future disasters of similar or bigger magnitude.
 

LANDSLIDES IN DESSIE TOWN

A year ago, during the 1994 kremt, landsliding caused the destruction of a bridge and the blocking of the main road through Dessie town. Since then, a large area in the urban periphery covering several heactares has become endangered, with several houses in the area destroyed and others on the verge of collapse. Line departments from the Ministry of Punblic Works and Urban Development (MoPWUD) as well as SIDA Sweden have studied the problem. As the result of these studies was not available at the time of the visit, this report concentrates on mainly on-the-spot findings.

According to the Deputy Administrator of South Welo, who is also head of the Committee on Land, the problem is mainly due to deforestation, quarrying, blockage of the sewage system, illicit constructions, etc., but natural causes such as the soaking of the soil by ground and surface waters are also responsible.

Since 1994, several short term preventive measures have been undertaken using allocated regional budget:

• Construction of 39 checkdams & 1,129 meters of canals
• Building of 7 shelters for emergencies
• Tree planting
• Spring catchments & construction of a water reservoir

On-the-spot observations gave the following picture:

Mount Tossa stands above Dessie town, up to about 500 metres. The relatively gentle slopes on top of the mountain plunge into very steep slopes reaching the upper outskirts of Dessie town. The runoff water from the eastside slopes of Tossa pass through the town, which is partly built on the sediments originating from the mountain.

Reforestation of the mountain slopes has been ongoing for about ten years, with mixed results. The limited choice of tree varieties, mainly cypress and eucalyptus, is not adapted to the mainly shallow and rocky soils and many trees are actually dying. Several soil avalanches, starting from the top of the steep slopes, have collapsed along the mountainside, obstructing the waterways through Dessie. The checkdams built since last year have not been constructed starting from the bottom of the mountain, but only at the beginning of town. All runoff water is therefore entering town with uncontrolled force.

The sediments deposited on inclined subsoil are also unstable. Aside from water infiltrations, constructions, and other related activities, the increased traffic of long-haul trucks with capacities of up to 40 tons to passing through the endangered area is likely to contribute to further landslides. These trucks are even too heavy for most of existing roads in the country, especially in the highlands, and, if maximum load is not restricted, will progressively damage the entire national road network.

The situation in Dessie town is reaching a very critical stage and if urgent measures are not taken in due time, the existence of large parts of the city could be threatened.

Without anticipating the outcome of specific in-depth studies, certain fields of action can already be outlined:

• Tossa mountain: Reduction of runoff water and prevention of landslides through reforestation with adapted tree and shrub species would be an important first step. Less inclined slopes could be divided into individual plots to be distributed to farmers, with the condition that the farmers plant and protect adapted species, while getting in return tree fodder and hay (recommendation of the zonal Ministry of Agriculture). The steep slopes would need specific treatment and should be put under complete protection (no exploitation). Wherever feasible and indicated, construction of checkdams in the gullies needs to be carried out.

• Base of the mountain: At the outlet of gullies, construction of adequate structures to cut the force of water flow are needed. Canals and deviation of runoff water along the bottom of Mount Tossa and spring catchment are also measures that can be undertaken.

• Dessie Town: Demarcation of landsliding areas, elaboration of an urban development plan, allocation of building plots and subsidies for concerned residents for resettlement, afforestation of endangered areas with tree species suitable for soil stabilisation and drainage (recreation area, production of fuel & construction wood, etc.) are among the required measures in the town itself.

Disclaimer

The designations employed and the presentation of material in this document do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever of the UN concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.
 
14 September, 1995