STORY: On visit to Belet Weyne, President Farmaajo

appeals for international aid to help flood victims

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LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/SOMALI NATURAL SOUND
DATELINE: 30/APRIL/2018, BELET WEYNE SOMALIA

SHOT LIST:

1. Wide Aerial shot of flooded sections of Belet Weyne, Hiiraan region

2. Med shot, floods
3. Wide shot, Mohamed Abdi Ware, HirShabelle president and ministers waiting to
receive the President of the Federal Government of Somalia, Mohamed Abdullahi
Mohamed Farmaajo
4. Med shot, AMISOM Police Commissioner, Christine Alalo and Yngvil Foss, deputy
director of UNOCHA (United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs) in Somalia alighting from the plane on arrival in Belet Weyne town
5. Med shot, President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo alighting from the plane
6. Wide shot, president Mohamed Abdi Ware and President Mohamed Abdullahi
Farmaajo walking
7. Med shot, President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo being welcomed by AMISOM
(African Union Mission in Somalia) and Somali National Army (SNA) officers
8. Wide shot, Yngvil Foss, deputy director of UNOCHA in Somalia
9. Wide shot, President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed Farmaajo being welcomed by
residents of Belet Weyne
10. Wide shot, President Farmaajo’s convoy driving through a section of a flooded
road
11. Wide shot, a house submerged in flood water
12. Close up shot, people walking in a flooded section of the town
13. Wide shot, cars stuck in the flooded section of the town
14. Med short, President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo touring flooded sections of
the town
15. Close up shot, President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo
16. Med shot, flood water
17. SOUNDBITE (Somali) President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed Farmaajo,
President of the Federal Republic of Somalia
“We have formed a national disaster committee in which the government is taking a
leading role to respond to the needs of our fellow citizens who have been affected to
share with them the pains they are facing and we’ll use all the resources available to
help them.”
18. Wide shot, a submerged house
19. Med shot, part of a wall under water
20. Wide shot, a submerged building
21. SOUNDBITE (Somali) President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed Farmaajo,
President of the Federal Republic of Somalia
“The government stands by your side morally and materially to deliver all the help
that we can.”

22. Med shot, President Farmaajo’s convoy driving through a flooded road
23. Wide shot, President Farmaajo arriving at Eel Jaale IDP camp
24. Med shot, President Farmaajo talking to a young boy
25. Wide shot, President Farmaajo talking to internally displaced persons
26. Med shot, makeshift shelters
27. Wide shot, Yngvil Foss, deputy director of UNOCHA in Somalia talking to
displaced persons
28. SOUNDBITE (English) Yngvil Foss, Deputy Director of United Nations Office for
the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) in Somalia
“Initially, all humanitarian actors started responding with the means and assets that
they had available. In the past week, we have been able to raise additional money to
provide targeted assistance for food, for shelter, for water and sanitation and non-
food items to be able to respond.”

29. Wide shot, Yngvil Foss mingling with children at the camp
30. Close up shot, Yngvil Foss
31. Med shot, Yngvil Foss mingling with children
32. SOUNDBITE (English) Yngvil Foss, Deputy Director of United Nations Office for
the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) in Somalia
“We are appealing for more funding. We’re responding as well as we can. But we are
appealing for more funding for certain issues such as shelter, food and water.”

33. Wide shot, makeshift shelters

34. Med shot, children walking at the camp
35. SOUNDBITE (English) Yngvil Foss, Deputy Director of United Nations Office for
the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) in Somalia
“Overall in Belet Weyne, 150,000 people are affected as far as the numbers that we
have, but we expect that to continue rising over the next few weeks. For Somalia as
a whole, about half a million people have been affected, either by the inundations
from the rivers or from the rains in the IDP (Internally displaced persons) camps, and
about 170,000 people have been displaced because of the rains.”

36. Med shot, Yngvil Foss talking to Saida Hassan Hussein, a victim of the floods
37. SOUNDBITE (English) Christine Alalo, Acting Police Commissioner, African
Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM)
“I still call upon the international community. What’s on the ground is not enough.
The situation on the ground needs the commitment of everybody. The international
community must come in, the NGOs must come in to come and support.”
38. SOUNDBITE (Somali) Saida Hassan Hussein, a flood victim
“We need shelter, and there are people who are displaced who have nothing.”

On visit to Belet Weyne, President Farmaajo appeals for international aid to help
flood victims

Belet Weyne, 30 April 2018 – On a visit to assess the impact of flooding in Somalia's
central state of HirShabelle, the country's President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed
"Farmaajo" today appealed to the international community and Somali diaspora
communities to support efforts to help those affected by the floods, which include
more than 150,000 people locally and some 500,000 nationwide.

President "Farmaajo" made the call while leading a high-level delegation, which
included representatives from the United Nations and the African Union Mission in
Somalia (AMISOM), to the city of Belet Weyne in HirShabelle state.

There, he assured the state's President Mohamed Abdi Waare and local residents
that the federal government was taking action to address the humanitarian crisis
caused by the floods.

“We have formed a national disaster committee to respond to the needs of our
fellow citizens who have been affected,” he said. “The government stands by your
side morally and materially to deliver all the help that we can.”

The Shabelle River, which begins in the Ethiopian highlands and flows through Belet
Weyne and the HirShabelle state capital of Jowhar, burst its banks following the
onset of heavy rains which began last month. Other states affected by the heavy
rains include Jubbaland and South West state. The heavy rains and flash floods come
only months after a devastating drought left over six million people in need of
humanitarian assistance last year.

An official from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Yngvil
Foss, said rainfall in recent weeks has been heavier than anticipated.

“Initially, all humanitarian actors started responding with the means and assets they
had available,” Ms. Foss, OCHA's deputy country director for Somalia, said. “In the
past week we have been able to raise additional money to target assistance for food,
water, sanitation and non-food items to be able to respond.”

The UN World Health Organization (WHO) delivered 4.5 million metric tons of
medicines and other medical supplies to Belet Weyne on 29 April. Ms. Foss called for
more funding to provide food and water to the increasing numbers of internally
displaced persons.
Another delegation member, acting AMISOM Police Commissioner Christine Alalo,
praised AMISOM peacekeeping troops from Djibouti and Ethiopia for evacuating
more than 10,000 residents of Belet Weyne from inundated parts of the city. She
noted that the African Union peacekeepers have provided water and tarpaulins to
flood victims.