Overview
Concern’s response
Most of the displaced people in eastern Chad have seen upheaval in the past five months; fleeing their homes, losing their animals, with access to very little food, and living in makeshift grass shelters. Many have been forced to flee more than once, with successive losses of property. The food situation is a serious issue both in the immediate and the medium-term as most of the displaced people will not be able to go home, and the hope of accessing suitable farming land close to the camps in which they are housed is not realistic. The imminent result of this is that these people will not be able to access a harvest next year, increasing their reliance on external food aid.
Concern’s initial focus will be on management of the camps for displaced people in the Goz-Beida / Goz Amer areas of Ouaddaï. This is where the greatest need for food, shelter and water are found. Concern aims to take a strong role in distributing food and other essential supplies in these selected sites. A secondary priority will also be the co-ordination of efforts to plan and deliver services to the so-called “disseminated sites” in the area, where groups of typically 1,000 – 2,000 displaced people are living within the bounds of host communities.
The number of Chadian people who have also been displaced is estimated to be 140,000. The local population in these affected areas has obviously been disturbed too, with the number estimated to be 700,000. All of this is happening within a region that is already battling chronic poverty and poor access to food, clean water and other basic needs.
So far, there has been little, if any, response to this crisis from the international community.
