Ethiopia's stranded survivors

By Mohammed Adow
BBC News, southern Ethiopia

Naked children run and play around in the dusty makeshift camp of Oga near Omarade township in southern Ethiopia.

More rain is expected in the coming weeks

Weak and bare-chested women struggle to build makeshift shelters for their families.

Not far from the flooded Omo River, the camp is now home to more than 1,000 people displaced by the floods from their original homes near the border of Ethiopia and Kenya.

This is one of the remotest parts of Ethiopia and the floods have had devastating effects on the local population who are mostly pastoralists.

Every family here has lost a loved one and most of their livestock - their only source of livelihood - has been swept away.

"It was in the middle of the night and we were fast asleep when the floods came into our village," Leshore Ngole, 48, told me as he huddled together with his three children in a small hut made of polythene sheets.

"I only managed to save three of my children - my wife and son were swept away and I'm yet to see even their bodies," he said.

People in the camp are sleeping under makeshift shelters

"I also lost 30 of my 32 head of cattle."

Omarade town is now surrounded by numerous such camps in which more than 15,000 people displaced from the nearby districts have been given temporary shelter.

Stranded

The government and aid agencies are now directing their efforts to the rescue of at least 5,000 people stranded in nine villages completely marooned by the river floods.

However, no vehicles or boats can get to the flooded villages.

"Those who have died have died, but the living should not be left to die," says the district administrator, Girman Mweria.

"I appeal to the government and non-governmental agencies to use helicopters to ferry the stranded to safety."

Some of the stranded people had rejected the chance of being ferried to safer high ground, fearing to lose their livestock, while some had chosen to stay due to cultural beliefs.

People have lost all their possessions

On top of the recent unexpected showers, more rain is expected next month, which is when the rainy season normally begins.

"In this area the main rainy season is all September - the combination of the two will have a great impact," warns Sisay Tadesse, a senior officer with the government-run Disaster Prevention and Preparedness agency warns.

"We are trying to prepare for that. We are appealing for the international community to help us."

Disease warning

With many areas still inaccessible due to raging waters, silt and mud, there are growing concerns of a sharp rise in the death toll and fears of outbreaks of deadly water-borne diseases.

There are fears of water-borne diseases

Meteorologists have warned that six areas in the north, west and south of Ethiopia will likely face further flood threats.

The threat of disease looms over those communities that have already had to move.

"River banks can break, so we need to continue to be very alert to make sure that the people who are displaced are not exposed to epidemics as a result either of watery diarrhoea or of malaria," says Bjorn Ljungqvist, country director of the UN Children's Fund (Unicef).

"The critical time is now for the next six weeks, when the rains will continue."

With most of the rivers in Ethiopia crossing over to neighbouring countries, there are now fears that floods could also occur in settlements in Somalia, Sudan and Kenya, near rivers that have their sources in the Ethiopian highlands.