Submitted by crinadmin on
Heavy rains with winds started in Mogadishu last night around 11:50pm on 28-08-06 and are still falling in the city. This has resulted in the death of two children who were brothers and third one has seriously wounded and rushed to the hospital. This tragic event happened in yaqshid district of Mogadishu after the house they were living in collapsed. The rain has stopped all movements and devastated more than 6 old buildings of the capital and shattered more than 100 IDP camps located in Mogadishu. The families and disadvantaged children living the IDP camps face homeless, cold and lack of shelter and are not able to get food because their daily life depends on work and movement to get to the city. They do shoe shining, domestic work, clothes washing and house cleaning to cover their daily wages. The parents of these children are jobless and send their children to work, and they have no capacity to protect their children or to pay school fees. The families and children in IDP camps are living in houses made of cartons and plants and the rain has demolished their houses and all living materials. The rain is still going on and has blocked all main roads of the capital because there is no drainage system and the main roads have not been reconstructed since the downfall of former government in 1991. There is no functioning central government which supports these families and children in IDP settings and no regional administration that repairs the roads and the former drainage system. The children in IDP camps are the most disadvantaged children in Somalia and the majority of them are from minority clans. SOCPD spares no effort to support children in IDP camps and we have conducted advocacy and awareness on this problem through local FM radios, and have mobilized community and business people to give their attention the children and families in IDP camps who face homeless and food shortage as a result of endless torrential rains. All children have not gone to their schools and remain at home and all business places are closed in this regard.