Update: Three new areas of Somalia have been classified as having been hit by famine, the UN says.

According to the UN Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit, “Famine is expected to spread across all regions of the south in the coming four to six weeks,” and is “likely to persist until at least December 2011”.

The United Nations Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs has warned that unless there is a massive increase in the response to the East Africa food crisis, the famine declared in two regions in Somalia will spread to five or six more regions.

In a press briefing on Monday, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Valerie Amos outlined the needs around the intensifying crisis.

“These stories, these images, are a wake-up call. They remind us why we cannot spare any effort to ease the suffering; why we must do all we can to stop it happening again.”

She said that 12.4 million people—in Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia and Djibouti—are in dire need of help, and the situation is getting worse.

“The stories we see and that we hear are dreadful. It is hard to imagine the horror of mothers forced to leave their infants behind to die, as they trek for weeks to reach safety.”

“The sense of loss felt by orphans as they reach overcrowded refugee camps, sick and malnourished, alone, and with no future.”

“These stories are a wake-up call. They remind us why we cannot spare any effort to ease the suffering; why we must do all we can to stop it happening again.”

TEAR is responding to the East Africa food crisis through our partners Christian Reformed World Relief Committee, and World Concern Africa and Somalia.

Many Somalis are seeking refuge in Kenya, and this massive exodus is complicating the already difficult emergency situation. Refugee camps near the border are overflowing with highly malnourished people who have walked long distances with little or no food and water.

TEAR Australia is now supporting our partner World Concern in its work with vulnerable, drought-affected communities on the Kenya/Somalia border. World Concern is working with displaced people on the Somalia side to provide water, sanitation, shelter materials and supplemental feeding for the most vulnerable. It is also working to expand medical support to this area.

On the Kenya side, World Concern is working to support communities that are suffering from the drought and also dealing with the strain on resources due to the influx of refugees to the town outside the camps.

As part of its work, World Concern will be providing 4000 people identified as most vulnerable with 20 litres of water per person per day and a monthly water ration for livestock. It will also provide support in repairing and maintaining key water points and constructing pit latrines for improved sanitation facilities.

In addition, it will be running an emergency feeding program and NFI (non food item) distribution to 10,000 beneficiaries.

Please donate now and help us respond to this crisis.