The continued drought has now raised the number of disaster at the Coast region to 678,000 even as the situation worsen by the day.
Nationally there are more than 4.35 million Kenyans who are in dire need of humanitarian assistance following the crisis.
Kenya Red Cross Society (KRCS) Authorities have said the situation in the country regarding drought was very bad and worsening each day.
The KRCS Deputy Secretary General Annette Msabeni said there is urgent humanitarian assistance needed to help the victims through water, food, and health interventions.
“Here in Coast we have 678,000 people who have been affected by the drought and the Numbers are increasing they are getting worse we are getting a number of children who are malnourished, children who are children under five years, pregnant women and mothers who are lactating,” she said.
So far the Deputy Secretary General said they have received relief food worth Sh. 58 million from well-wishers which will be distributed to 12,000 households (72,000 people) in four Counties highly affected by the drought in the Coast region.
She said in Kilifi they will be distributing relief food to 3,000 households.
“This is food that has been donated by well-wishers such as the Tawfiq family, and several other well-wishers, she said.
The Deputy SG said their focus was on saving lives and long-term mitigation measures to ensure families do not get back into those difficult situations.
Countrywide she said there is more than 2.5 million livestock that has been lost which is affecting the livelihoods of those families and nutrition.
She said in the Coast Region together with other partners they have been doing interventions through rehabilitation water facilities distributing food, and health outreaches targeting children under five who are malnourished.
“We have also done livestock offtake together with the government as part of protecting the family assets,” she said.
Ruwa Kalama a resident of Kaloleni sub-County Kilifi County said people have no food and children are dropping out of school.
He said there is so far an outbreak of diseases among children as the locals have no access to clean water.
Currently, Kalama said locals have to walk for a long distance to search for water.
“We have so many challenges yet some of the people are saying there is no problem this is wrong, ”he said
Harriet Jefwa a resident of Nyallani Village in Kaloleni Sub County said they spend nights in wells in search of water because of the scarcity of the commodity.
“Like us, we spent the whole of last night at the well and we will have to wait for a whole week to go back and get more water, so the truth is as JIbana people we are appealing for help we are really suffering, ” she said.
Currently, she said washing clothes and bathing are not a priority because of the challenges of drought, and people can spend over three days without cleaning their bodies.
She said the recent food distribution by the government only targeted the people living with disability and orphans yet there are so many others who are affected.
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