Effect of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake on Somalia: Wikis

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Map of Somalia with Puntland roughly highlighted in blue. The Hafun is the small peninsula in the northeast.

The effect of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake on Somalia was devastating. Villages and coastal communities in Somalia, as far as 4,500 km (2,800 miles) from the epicentre of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, were swept away and destroyed by the resulting tsunami on 26 December 2004. The confirmed death toll stood at 298, as of 5 January 2005. According to presidential spokesperson Yusuf Mohamed Ismail of the transitional government, more than 50,000 people were displaced.

Most of the damage was in the coastal region of the semi-autonomous Puntland area, particularly the region between Hafun in the Bari region and Garacad in the Mudug region. The narrow and low-lying peninsula of Hafun, 1150 km (715 mi) northeast of Mogadishu, was particularly devastated. In Puntland, rising waters destroyed properties in especially Hafun and Kulub, while parts of the towns and villages of Bander Beyla, Eyl, Foar and Bargaal were flooded. Other coastal areas, including Lower Juba, were also somewhat affected. The UN reported that the waves destroyed 1,180 homes, smashed 2,400 boats and rendered freshwater wells and reservoirs unusable. The village of Kulub, near Gara'ad, was still partially submerged as of 6 January. At Kulub, Hurdiye and other places, teams from the World Food Programme reported that all the boats and other fishing equipment used by the residents to make a livelihood had been lost.

Aftermath

Around 12 tons of rice, maize and vegetable oil were delivered to Hafun on 30 December, four days after the tsunami. Previous attempts to deliver aid failed after trucks were unable to pass tsunami damaged roads near Foar, a village of 1000 people living in mud-and-wattle huts that had been destroyed. The main sand bridge which connects the Hafun peninsula to the mainland was damaged, so the twelve tonnes were then transferred onto two four-wheel drive vehicles that managed the 60 km (40 mi) trip from Foar to Hafun in seven hours. The UN warned that the tsunami had worsened the situation after four years of drought in northern Somalia and that further aid was desperately needed. It has distributed 200 tonnes of food aid to 12,000 people, but states that food for 30,000 is needed. The UN had four teams in the area and on 4 January appealed for US$13,000,000 to assist 54,000 Somalis affected by the tsunami. As part of the flash inter-agency appeal of US$977,000,000 made by the UN Secretary-General on 6 January, US$10,000,000 was requested for Somalia. In February, the U.S. government made one million dollars available for tsunami relief in Somalia. ^[1]

Much of the remote 1,000 km (600 mi) coast is controlled by various clan-based militias, making obtaining accurate information difficult. Relief officials were unable to make observation flights because of the fear of being fired upon by anti-aircraft batteries. The transitional Somali government was based in Nairobi, Kenya because the capital city of Mogadishu was too unsafe. Prime Minister Ali Mohammed Ghedi cancelled a trip on 4 January 2005, which would have been his first visit to Somalia since being appointed.