DROUGHT RESPONSE-DKH

ADS North Rift intervened in Turkana County through the assistance of Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe (Protestant Agency for Diakonia and Development). The monthly County Drought Early Warning bulletins over the implementation period continued to indicate high temperatures hence worsening the drought situation. The average rainfall during the period accounted only for 27% of the expected / normal precipitation for the period. Hence, vegetation deteriorated significantly and the majority of sites remained water-stressed due to the drying up of over 90% of open water sources, the breakdown of boreholes, and the increased depth of traditional river wells.

By end of October 2022, all water pans, rock catchments, and seasonal rivers had dried up while the volume of water along the permanent river Turkwel had significantly reduced. The average distance to the water point increased to an average of 9.1 Km from the normal range of 5.9 km. Similarly, the waiting time at the water points increased to almost 2 hours.
There was a significant increase in the number of livestock deaths and this has the potential to trigger cattle rustling as a measure to restock.

Overall, the county remained in the Alarm phase in the previous months of 2022, but it deteriorated to Emergency Phase over the period. There need to address the acute humanitarian crisis due to the increased number of people in need of humanitarian aid continues. The intervention, therefore, targeted 1,200 vulnerable households for 3 months of unconditional cash transfer as well as support for early recovery in Lokichar and Katilu wards, Turkana South.