U.S. vows to continue assisting Ethiopia’s drought mitigation efforts

Addis Ababa, March 19, 2016 (FBC) – The Director for USAID’s Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance, Jeremy Konyndyk, said the U.S. will continue assisting Ethiopia’s drought mitigation efforts.

Konyndyk is the Response Director for USAID’s Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART), which recently deployed to Ethiopia.

The DART is working with partners to provide vital humanitarian aid to those in need, conducting humanitarian assessments, providing technical assistance to the government of Ethiopia, and coordinating with humanitarian organizations on the ground.

Will brief journalists today on USAID’s response to the drought in Ethiopia after conducing humanitarian assessments, he said that the United States will continue helping the efforts the Ethiopian government has been exerting to reduce the impact of the drought.

Commending the impressive drought response activities by the Ethiopian government, Konyndyk said, “We have far better capability to manage such kind of situation we had 13 years ago. We have also seen a clear leadership by the government of Ethiopia to tackle this drought.”

The U.S team is expected to report their assessment to their officials in Washington to facilitate for further U.S. support to Ethiopia’s efforts of dealing with the disaster.

Over the past 18 months, the U.S extended more than half a billion dollars in emergency assistance for people affected by the El Nino drought in Ethiopia.

According to him, the drought needs an urgent response from donors and humanitarian organizations.

Currently the drought affected 10.2 million Ethiopians.