U.S. dispatches emergency aid for Ethiopian drought – The Obama administration is sending disaster response teams to northern Ethiopia to try to address a humanitarian emergency and avoid a national security risk to the U.S. should the drought there spiral out of control.
Experts are predicting northern Ethiopia will experience the worst drought in generations, one that will surpass the 1984 famine that killed one million men, women and children and galvanized stars like Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder and Bruce Springsteen to record the 1985 charity song “We are the World.”
The Ethiopian government — a major partner in U.S. counterterrorism efforts — estimates that 10.2 million people will need food assistance, on top of about 8 million people who are chronically food insecure, and up to 2 million people will need safe drinking water. The United Nations estimates that as many as 15 million Ethiopians could suffer acute malnutrition or worse unless more help is found.
“We are acting to prevent a major humanitarian crisis and protect Ethiopia’s hard-earned development progress,” Gayle Smith, administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, said Thursday In announcing the deployment of a Disaster Assistance Response Team. Read More : Credit: CNN NEWS
