Tuesday, November 12, 2013
At least 100
people were killed when a tropical cyclone hit Somalia's semi-autonomous
Puntland region at the weekend, the government said on Monday,
declaring a state of emergency and appealing for international aid.
The government said hundreds of people were missing after the storm made landfall on Saturday.
"Houses
and livestock were swept into the ocean by the floods," President
Abdirahman Mohamud Farole told reporters in the capital Garowe.
"We
urge United Nations aid agencies to assist the victims. As Puntland, we
have established a committee to investigate the loss and damage.
Electricity, communication and fishing boats were all destroyed."
The
government said preliminary information showed more than 100,000
livestock were lost and fishing boats swept away, endangering the
livelihoods of tens of thousands of people.
The storm was forecast to move inland and continue until Wednesday.
The
storm hit the Eyl, Beyla, Dangorayo and Hafun districts along the
eastern coast and across to Alula at the tip of the Horn of Africa. High
winds and heavy rains caused flash floods and cut off roads to the
coastal areas.
"I have
buried 10 members of my family, the icy storm and rain killed more than
hundred people here," elder Hussein Abdullahi, 57, told Reuters from
Eyl.
"I have never
witnessed such fatal cold. Some people were blown away and others died
after their houses collapsed on them. Some people, and the animals they
were looking after, are still missing," he said.
Puntland
spans the north of Somalia and has largely escaped the worst of the
country's upheaval of the last 20 years. Foreign powers advocating a
loose federal political system in Somalia have held it up as a possible
model.
The area is rich
in energy resources and is being sized up by oil explorers. However,
Puntland's authorities have said insecurity is growing and blame the
Islamist militant group al Shabaab, which has been driven out of many
regions that it used to control in the rest of Somalia.
In
August, Puntland said it had cut ties with the central government in
Mogadishu, accusing it of refusing to share power and foreign aid with
the regions.
(Writing by James Macharia; Editing by Janet Lawrence)