Holding Back the Floods near Bahir Dar

Holding Back the Floods near Bahir Dar

In 2007 alone, a total of 31,250 households and 84,292 acres of land were affected by flooding in the Bahir Dar rural area, part of the Amhara region of Ethiopia. While a flood mitigation project already exists in the region, it has left several of the most vulnerable areas open to flooding.  In 2007 16,932 households in these areas were affected by flooding.  Therefore UNOCHA has financed a massive relief operation to be implemented jointly in Amhara by multiple NGOs, including Food for the Hungry Ethiopia.

 

Food for the Hungry Ethiopia is extending work on the previous flood mitigation so as to cover previous unprotected areas, as well as improving the original flood mitigation sites.  We are providing flood mitigation measures that include: de-silting the rivers; raising their embankments; strengthening the embankments with locally transported soil and vegetation; and constructing river crossings. FH Ethiopia is also educating people living in the affected areas about flood mitigation techniques.

The rains are just about to start here in Ethiopia, so the direct effects cannot yet be seen. However, three river crossings are completed and a fourth is under construction. Food for the Hungry Ethiopia is expecting this work to protect the homes of the people in the flood regions, and that the crossings will allow them access to people and businesses on the other side of the river. The hope is that through education the people in these districts will be able to maintain the embankments and crossings, and so help protect their homes and households.