“The number is growing by the day, with daily arrivals averaging 1,000 in July,” Vivian Tan, spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has said. Severe drought has plunged communities in the southern region of Somalia into famine and sent thousands fleeing both to Mogadishu and to neighbouring Ethiopia and Kenya.

The UN and partner aid agencies are seeking approximately $1.6 billion in aid to assist millions affected by the crisis in Somalia and the wider Horn of Africa region. On Monday, the top UNHCR officials in Somalia visited the Badbado settlement in Mogadishu which is currently home to an estimated 28,000 people.

“Given the growing numbers of displaced people in search of food assistance, the amounts being delivered are not sufficient to meet all of the needs. This has caused serious crowd crushes and even some looting,” said Ms. Tan.

As a result, some of the weakest and most vulnerable are left with nothing, despite the best efforts of agencies and charities. The UN World Food Programme (WFP) is hoping that the first in a series of airlifts to Somalia will begin today. The planes will bring, among other supplies, ready-to-use therapeutic food destined specifically for severely malnourished children, agency spokesperson Emilia Casella said in Geneva.

To enable people to carry the food and water they are able to obtain, UNHCR said it will begin distributing 4,000 assistance packages for 24,000 people in the coming week, including jerry cans, buckets, pots, plates, bowls, cups and other utensils. The agency has already distributed shelter materials, including plastic sheeting, in Badbado.

So far this year, UNHCR has distributed over 17,000 emergency assistance packages benefiting 102,000 people in south-central Somalia. It will distribute a further 19,000 packages in the coming days, containing essential items such as plastic sheeting for shelter, sleeping mats and blankets, buckets and jerry cans for water, kitchen sets, utensils, plates and cups for food to 114,000 people.

Another 40,000 packages containing high-energy biscuits, oral re-hydration solution and water purification tablets, are being procured by UNHCR and will reach an estimated 240,000 people in the coming days.