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Somalia: DRC provides integrated emergency support to families displaced by conflict in Laascaanood

Schools typically provide spaces and environments for learning, while public buildings host government offices to serve communities. However, in the Kalabayr and Taleex areas of the Sool region, as well as Buuhoodle of Togdheer, the situation is different. Schools and public buildings in these areas have become havens for thousands of families who have been forced to occupy them and make them their homes due to the eruption of conflict.

According to an interagency assessment by humanitarian frontlines, including the Danish Refugee Council (DRC), an estimated 185,280 people have been displaced as a result of the conflict in Laascaanood, Sool. Families are temporarily living in schools and public buildings in surrounding areas, such as Kalabayr, which is just 30 km away from Laascaanood.

Those affected by the conflict include women, the elderly, children, pastoralists, farmers, traders, and other urban and rural inhabitants who have left their belongings behind and fled with whatever they could.

The affected population has already been grappling with the impact of a severe drought. Most families have been forced to flee from their homes for the first time, exacerbating their plight and putting them at heightened vulnerability while reducing their ability to cope with the harsh conditions resulting from the displacement.

DRC Somalia Country Director, Audrey Crawford, recently visited Kalabayr, which has received a large influx of Internally displaced persons (IDPs), to assess the displacement crisis in the area and monitor DRC Somalia's response to support those most in need.

The eruption of conflict in Laascaanood meant people had to flee their homes, leaving behind their belongings, and are now living in temporary shelter in schools and public buildings in surrounding towns. With our partners and stakeholders, we have been able to reach 36,000 vulnerable individuals with emergency cash, non-food items (NFIs), and protection assistance. However, there is a need for all partners and stakeholders to work in coordination to maximize the impact of the response.

Audrey Crawford, DRC Somalia Country Director.

An integrated health and nutrition response

Through DRC's Individual Protection Assistance approach, the organization has swiftly responded to the displacement crises in the affected areas by bringing emergency physicians closer to the IDPS in Kalabayr and Taleex.

This was imperative to deliver emergency and critical care services as well as provide free prescriptions, medication, travel allowances, and referral services to vulnerable patients.

To address nutrition needs, DRC partnered with Action Against Hunger (ACF) to provide timely nutrition and healthcare to malnourished children.

We have arrived in Kalabayr as an emergency team to support the displaced people. DRC brought me here as a physician to deliver emergency and critical care services with other health practitioners from ACF. We have seen desperate IDPs living in poor conditions. However, we made a timely intervention to examine 150 patients on the first day of our mission. We also provided referrals for several patients. The health risk here is the malnutrition among children

Dr. Said Magan - A medical physician

To support the dignity, health, and privacy of displacement-affected populations, DRC provided core relief items (hygiene kits and NFIs) and multipurpose cash assistance to 6,000 households in Kalabayr, Taleex, Widhwidh, and Xidh Xidh to cover the immediate needs of the conflict-affected populations.

The cash support provides the affected communities with purchase flexibility to meet their basic needs.

DRC Somalia aims to continue providing protection and assistance to all communities who have been forcibly displaced from their homes and, with the support of partners and stakeholders, address the challenges faced by conflict-affected communities.