By Staff Writer
(NAIROBI, Kenya) — Severe drought in Tselemt District, located within the North Gondar Zone of the Amhara Region, has claimed the lives of 16 residents and forced hundreds of households to abandon their homes, according to local administrative reports.
In an interview with Addis Maleda, Meraw Kebele Administrator Tilahun Gebremichael confirmed that complete rainfall failure since March 2026 has destroyed standing crops, triggered critical food shortages, and decimated local livestock herds.
Tilahun stated that acute hunger and water scarcity have forced 488 households from Meraw Kebele to abandon their land and migrate toward Western Tigray in search of survival, noting that unseasonal dry spells completely destroyed seasonal planting cycles and left agrarian households without reserves.
Nearly 500 family units have fled the kebele due to worsening famine conditions, while mounting hunger prompted desperate residents to organize peaceful street demonstrations demanding immediate food aid from federal and regional disaster management authorities.
Kebele administrators noted that local officials documented mortality figures, displacement metrics, and livestock losses and submitted official petitions to zonal and regional authorities. However, local leadership confirmed that no emergency relief supplies have arrived to date.
Tilahun highlighted that prior state assistance was strictly limited to routine safety-net distributions targeting registered vulnerable households, which proved insufficient to absorb a full-scale climate shock.
Local authorities warned that without immediate intervention from the National Disaster Risk Management Commission and international humanitarian organizations, the district faces catastrophic, widespread loss of life.
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