Meal preparation in an Ethiopian feeding centre (Dany Gignoux)
ICRC received the initial stocks of grain to be distributed in April, May and June, for the main rainy season which normally takes place in July and August. In May, 577 tonnes of seeds were given to 41,000 families; in June, 691 tonnes were supplied to more than 31,000 families; in July and August, 600,000 people were given more than 3,000 tonnes of seeds. Something that had not occurred for several years finally happened: it rained. Once the rainy season was over, harvesting began and delegates noted a certain improvement in the nutritional state of part of the population receiving assistance. But it did not rain every-
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Reaching the victims:
enormous resources required
Aircraft fleet: 4 large cargo aircraft of the Hercules type; 5 small freight planes, Twin Otter and Pilatus.
Ground vehicles: 80 trucks, more than 50 of them with trailers.
In Ethiopia, the main problem is transporting relief supplies: the roads are not safe, and some areas are difficult of access. Moreover, distributing 10,000 tonnes of goods each month at some 45 distribu- tion points in Eritrea, Tigray, North Wollo and Gondar is, in itself, no easy task. In December 1985, the ICRC delegation in Ethiopia was made up of 64 people (18 of them specialists on loan from the National Societies of Australia, Denmark, the Federal Republic of Germany, Ireland, New Zealand, Sweden and Great Britain), an additional 439 Ethiopian employees engaged locally and 1,407 daily workers.
where: the high plateaux did get enough water, but some parts of Tigray and North Wollo and also most of the lower plateaux in the northeast of the country had only intermittent rain. For this reason the general distribution of food is continuing.
Ethiopia: inside an ICRC tent (Dany Gignoux)