© action medeor/WARDI Info © action medeor/WARDI Somalia El Niño: Impacts worldwide Close-up 12 March 2024 The weather phenomenon favors droughts, floods, crop failures and waves of disease in the Global South - action medeor is helping. When weather extremes meet poverty “The flood destroyed my entire harvest”, small farmer Hanad tells us. After four years of drought, the masses of water could no longer seep into the rock-hard soil. More than 600,000 people lost their homes as a result of the flood, and many more are affected by other consequences: Food shortages and hunger are on the rise, and the risk of fatal infectious diseases is increasing dramatically. Two medical teams from our partner WARDI regularly travel to the villages and refugee camps - carrying energy food, water purification tablets and life-saving medicines. We help small farmers like Hanad to replant their fields in a more crisis-proof way. El Niño El Niño is a climate phenomenon that occurs every few years and causes a weakening of the trade winds. This causes critical weather changes in many countries in the southern hemisphere. This is also the case in Somalia. The consequences will be felt for a long time Heavy rainfall has also uprooted people in many places in Tanzania. A deadly landslide occurred on the country's fourth highest mountain - action medeor provided emergency aid from its Tanzanian base on the same day. There is also the risk of epidemics when wells and latrines are flooded: Cholera has broken out in six of Tanzania's 31 regions since January. Why your help is needed now Luckily, El Niño is now weakening, but the damage and long-term consequences will keep those affected in suspense for a long time to come. This is also the case in Guatemala, where historically little rain has fallen for months. Fearing that the precious grains could dry out again, farmers have postponed sowing. The consequences for the Central American country are dramatic: every second child under the age of five is already malnourished. Even harmless illnesses are becoming a deadly risk. The people now need help to survive: clean drinking water, medicines, food and seeds for the next sowing season. But they also need medical care and support with disaster preparedness, for example through stockpiling and climate-adapted agriculture. We would be delighted if you would support our emergency aid for those affected by El Niño and other disasters worldwide!