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A view of Horn of Africa's drought from space
The worst drought in 60 years has hit the Horn of Africa region, an area in east Africa that includes Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya.
A recent satellite-derived animation from the European Space Agency illustrates the crisis as it worsened over the summer. The images above show soil moisture in the region from April to mid-July of this year. Green and blue depict higher levels of soil moisture while the increasing spread of orange and yellow illustrates areas with little to no moisture.
The drought has led to starvation and the loss of crops and livestock. Food prices have nearly tripled in some areas since last year, worsening the crisis.
The United Nations officially declared famine in parts of Somalia last week, and thousands of people have fled their homes and crossed borders in search of water, food or aid.
More on the crisis:
U.N., donors meet on Somalia famine as aid groups seek more help
Amid famine, Somalis flock back to the war-torn city they fled
Walking 17 days for water and other personal stories from the drought
How to help:
With all the fertile land in Africa I still don't know why people don't leave the desolate areas and migrate to more sustainable land. Humans have always migrated for survival. I'd like the UN to stop handing out bags of grain so they can instead start teaching people how to implement better agriculture methods. It's really sad to see a starving child who's only crime is being born to parents who don't know better in an unstable region.
Perhaps all those "food aid" $'s should be used to rent u-hauls.
Do you think that Africa is one big country? It is not possible to emigrate from these countries as there are international borders. Furthermore, most of these people don't have the financial resources available to migrate. Have you ever been to a third-world country?
@what Africa is a continent not a country
@potato I think you mean continential breakfast
In 20-30 years the US could see hordes of displaced persons leaving flood and drought-stricken areas. Will the kindly land-owners in less harsh regions take them in and allow them to settle on the land? I've worked in Africa and seen great numbers of children starving to death. It sickens me to hear comments from sophmoric morons, sitting in their air conditioned homes, on their fat asses, and allowing such drivel to run from an over-active pie hole. Maybe tragedy will someday strike their families and they'll see less humor in human misery.
@Larry L
You were probably never a fan of Sam Kinnison's "Move where the food is" stand-up routine then, huh?
it's called karma. let all those thieving muslims rot....the pirates and their children. i, for one, don't give a rat's ass about any of them. the more that die...the better.
Looks like someone used a giant can of raid on a roach infested piece of land.
"potato," did you really not understand what "what" said? He knows its not a country. Potato head?
Chris, you are mentally ill.
It's called international borders. Not so easy to cross if the other nation your trying to enter does not want you.
European Space Agency, must be nice to live in a country that values space exploration enough to fund an agency to do it.
Since when is Europe a country?
Since Ireland is a peninsula.
I thought Europe became a country at the same time Africa became a country. *rolls eyes*
Easier said than done! There are borders in Africa and fear of death lurks on those borders. Migration is not possible with borders. I agree, however, about teaching more sustainable agriculture methods. Do note that the people have to rise first. They need to do something about it first instead of outside influence. Education! Education! Education!
everyone needs to just go find the dude that needs help stashing his money from the Ivory Coast.
It happens every 10 years or so, it is going to happen again. Too many people living in a place that no one should live
Are you talking about your apartment building being infested with roaches?
What the world fails to realize that what is happening there...will soon happen in other places. The need is high for people to explore other options. The US is experiencing drought in places and could soon see this on their own land. Then what would we do. We need to help these people and help them come up with some kind of solution. We are all linked together whether people want to realize it or not.
Yeah right dude. Never gonna happen here. I am not linked to anyone.
wise words
I pray they will be ok. Those poor people are suffering.
Praying isn't going to help. Monetary aid, education and rain will.
I am 1/2 somali and kenyan. If I hear, "why dont these people just go to a safe/fertile/better place", im going to lose it. Africa is not the UNITED States. You cant just hop from one African country to another. There are militants on the bourders of every country just waiting for someone to stick their noses across. I mean think about it, if every area has their own radical militant group slaughtering their own country men/tribe what makes you think a Congonese, Angolan, or any other rebal group would let Somalians cone and go freely without altercation to their lands? Stop posting ignorant comments on here hiding behind the blanket of freedom our country provides. Either help out or just leave these people alone 🙂
you are almost qaulified to be an American President ! Just say the heat is from global warming and maybe you can win a nobel prize score some cash and run in 2012!!!
Because they're true statements. There are legal (keyword) ways of immigrating into other countries. We deal with it in the United States all of the time, both legal and illegal (Mexico).
Get off of your soap box already. It's survival of the fittest.
People who aren't traveled or worldly just don't get it. They can't comprehend what it's like to live in other parts of the world because all they know is America. You can't convince them into being less ignorant, they just need to broaden their own minds by seeing with their own eyes. It's sad that they think they're qualified to discuss situations like this, but you know what they say about opinions and everyone having one.
Nino, thanks. You just prevented this blog from being polluted with more ignorant comments. @michelle, it did happen here, the dust bowl in the '30s.
wrong again
Somalia is the armpit of the earth. Let it wilt.
i think this is more of a rash
If every child has 8 kids and every kid has 8 more and so on it's a recipie for disaster. Birth control is too expensive, so we get famine. Every square inch of Africa would be covered with people if it were not for war, flood, famine, disease, and countless other situations which reduce the number of people. Read up on Thomas Malthus for more information about why African countries and other Third World nations without schools and condoms seem to lose a million people here and there without seeming to miss a beat every year or two. This stuff has to happen for nature to stay in balance.
We here in the West, on the other hand, do it differently. We drill for oil, drive big cars and get killed by F-5 twisters.
World population 1804 1 billion (wikipedia)
World population 2011 7 billion
Republican candidate in US As long as there is a physical space to put more humans, the world is underpopulated
Economics are supply and demand, too many humans = individual humans economically worth less and less
Its not the draught that apalls me but the number of children in each family. Seriously, when the food is so limited why give birth to too many children? I'm a muslim myself and I don't understand this.
Gotta get laid
what doe being a Muslim have to do with it?
your post isnt that long but looked boring. Sup JC?
Dirtyhorse: You are not remotely funny. Grow up and shut up.
That's what the midwest in the U.S. will look like soon if this heat keeps up. Serious. The Dust Bowl is back. It lasted 10 years before, what will it be like this time? Some of us won't be around to find out.
Maybe the leaders of these African countries will invite the Israeli agricultural engineers to come back to their countries - having kicked them out in 1967 - and ask the Israelis to share with them the technology that has enabled Israel to grow wheat and vegetables in the Negev desert, and turn sand back into fertile soil. Or is their hatred for Jews so great that they would rather see their populations die of starvation and drought?
You already know the answer to that, they would slit the throats of their own children before letting the Jews bless them with their knowledge, expertise, and generosity.
To be indebted to a jew is worse than death, to these barbarians.
I see opportunity for a McDonalds and a KFC in Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya . Booyah dollar signs