Beledweyne, Somalia - Recent

Storyline:
Heavy rains in East Africa have killed at least seven children and left thousands homeless in Somalia, a United Nations humanitarian agency said.

In the country’s central regions, local authorities said hundreds of families were stranded.

Residents of the central Somali town of Beledweyne said the rain at night caught them off guard, giving them little time to gather their belongings and move to a safe area, but their household necessities and livestock were ruined or lost.

Somalia's disaster management agency has warned of more torrential rains, especially in riverine areas, and urged people to move to safer areas. Officials say they're working to help stranded people with necessities.

Climate change and the El Nino weather pattern have brought frequent extreme weather events, including floods and massive droughts, to the East African country, adding to the fragility of its economy.

Somalia now relies heavily on international support for disaster management, and humanitarian agencies have allocated three million US dollars to mitigate the worst of the problems this time around.

Shotlist:
Beledweyne, Somalia - Recent:
1. Various of flooded city, displaced people;
2. SOUNDBITE (Somali, dubbed in English) Dahabo Nur, a displaced resident (starting with shot 1):
"Our houses are full of water. We could not even manage to salvage our utensils and little food we had. We don't also have shelter from the ongoing rain and the cold weather.";
3. Various of people organizing belongings;
4. SOUNDBITE (Somali, dubbed in English) Elmi Fidow, a displaced resident (starting with shot 3):
"It was unexpected during the night. I managed to rescue my children and some few belongings but unfortunately the water swept away my donkey and five goats, as you can see, we managed to save only those two goats."
5. Various of river, displaced people;
6. Officials on boat;
7. Flooded houses;
8. SOUNDBITE (Somali, dubbed in English) Abdullahi Salad, Mayor, Beledweyne (starting with shot 7/ending with shot 9):
"This was an emergency and there was no plan in place to relocate these displaced people in case of such an unexpected situation. They now don't have access to basic needs such as clean water, health and some are in danger of reptiles but we want to take that responsibility now and do everything in our capacity to help them."
9. Various of flooded city, displaced people.

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