February
DISASTER
A spike in airstrikes and clashes between armed groups force thousands of people to flee their homes in Mali.
IMPACT
Food supplies are running so short that some uprooted families have not eaten for days. In Gossi, a town in central Mali, at least 2,000 displaced people have no clean water and are at risk from waterborne disease.
RESPONSE
We launch an emergency response to assist displaced people. Nearly 700 families receive sufficient food supplies to prepare three meals per day for a month. In addition the shelter materials they get help protect them from the elements, and reduce their need to cut down trees to build makeshift refuges. Many families are forced to use open water sources which expose them to waterborne disease. They dig shallow pits in the riverbeds to get water, increasing soil erosion which harms the local environment. In the coming months Islamic Relief tackles this by providing water purification tablets to make poor-quality well water safe, and by educating local people about good hygiene practices to protect them from infection.
