Northern Ethiopia Emergency Response Situation Report #03

Business
October 1, 2021

Highlights

Food insecurity in Tigray remains a concern and urgent action is needed to meet the immediate needs of 5.2 million food insecure people – including over 400,000 people facing catastrophic levels of hunger (IPC phase 5).
Delivering supplies into the region remains the biggest challenge to WFP operations due to delays in clearances and insecurity plague along the only available route into Tigray, the Semera-Abala corridor in Afar Region.
The shortage of supplies (food, cash, fuel, telecommunication) is severely impacting the continuation and scale-up of operations by WFP and its partners.

Situation Update

While humanitarian access is now viable and largely secure inside most of the Tigray Region, access to life-saving humanitarian relief remains restricted along the only available route into Tigray, the Semera-Abala corridor. WFP and its partners call for unfettered and immediate passage of humanitarian relief and personnel into Tigray through commonly agreed routes into the Region.
According to the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis, four million people − 70 percent of the population – are estimated to be acutely food insecure (IPC Phase 3 or above) in Tigray for the period July-September 2021. Of these, 1.8 million people are facing crisis level of food insecurity (IPC Phase 3), 1.6 million people are facing emergency (IPC Phase 4) and 400,000 people (4 percent) face catastrophe (IPC Phase 5). Food insecurity is due to conflict, lack of market access, effects of desert locust invasion, the missed planting season and insufficient humanitarian support. Based on qualitative information from the field, the number of food insecure people continues to increase. People currently suffering from acute food insecurity could slide into catastrophic levels of hunger and further into famine-like conditions if food and livelihood assistance is not rapidly scaled-up. The ongoing conflict has affected other parts of Northern Ethiopia, threatening to further exacerbate the food insecurity of already vulnerable families.
Fuel, cash, internet and banking services are currently unavailable in Tigray, making it impossible for WFP and its partners to resume operations at scale. Stocks of relief aid, cash and fuel are running very low and/or are completely depleted, as WFP is unable to bring in sufficient and sustained levels of humanitarian supplies. There needs to be 100 trucks arriving daily to meet the food needs in the region yet from 20 August until the end of August, no food commodities entered Tigray.

Source: World Food Programme