Extended drought is causing a severe food crisis in the Horn of Africa with parts of Somalia so severely affected that no less than 100,000 people are moving within Somalia and towards neighbouring Kenya and Ethiopia in search of emergency assistance. According to OCHA reports over 11 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance in the Horn of Africa. The famine is expected to spread across all regions in southern Somalia soon unless urgent measures are put in place.

UNOSAT has already published a rapid assessment of the Ethiopian border town of Dolo at the request of UNHCR to support of emergency humanitarian planning in the area following the influx of Somali refugees. Satellite imagery acquired on 17 July 2011 over the town was assessed for a number of thematic issues covering the possible presence of refugee/IDP settlements in the area, transportation, hydrology, rainfall and cultivation. This is assessment is still preliminary and is being validated in the field.

In addition, a UNOSAT atlas provides detailed pre-crisis satellite imagery coverage over the main border crossing for Somali refugees entering Ethiopia, over the border towns of Dolo, Ethiopia and Doolow, Somalia. The atlas is based on pre-crisis satellite imagery acquired in October 2010 and has been designed for easy printing and readability on A4 and A3 paper.

UNITAR/UNOSAT is receiving support from the US State Department Humanitarian Information Unit and is coordinating geospatial requirements with WFP and UNHCR in this early phase, while coordination with the European Union’s SAFER Project is ongoing to implement efficient division of labour for the production of complementary information products and to avoid redundancy.

Valerie Amos, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, emphasized the fact that the Horn of Africa is facing its driest period in sixty years, and people are increasingly unable to cope. "We need to help people in their own country but we are also seeing an alarming rise in refugees in Kenya and Ethiopia." (photo courtesy of UN Multimedia)