Publication Date December 9, 2015 | Humanosphere

El Niño: Warnings increase as drought and floods hit 15 million in Ethiopia

Ethiopia
Sea surface temperature in the equatorial Pacific Ocean are unusually warm, due to El Nino. Image: NOAA
Sea surface temperature in the equatorial Pacific Ocean are unusually warm, due to El Nino. Image: NOAA

El Niño is making life very difficult for people in Ethiopia. The U.N. warned in late November that as many as 100,000 people could be displaced by flooding in the northern part of the country. Meanwhile, drought to the south will leave more than 10 million people in need of food aid, Save the Children has warned. In total, more than 15 million people in Ethiopia may need some sort of assistance in 2016. “The worst drought in Ethiopia for 50 years is happening right now … world leaders … must take the opportunity to wake up and act before it’s too late,” said John Graham, Save the Children’s Ethiopia country director, in a statement.