The United Nations Office for Humanitarian Coordination (OCHA) says the country has been beset by a series of extremes as dry conditions and delayed rains gave way to record flooding in 2019, coming on top of other persistent drivers of needs such as armed conflict, and protracted and continued displacement.  As emergency situation continues in many parts of the country, some 5.2 million of Somalis will remain in need of assistance in early 2020, OCHA estimates.

Deteriorating conditions in early 2019 led to the Drought Impact Response Plan that requested $686 million for the urgent scale up of response in the last seven months of the year; and $72.5 million was called for in the Flood Response Plan, launched in November, for critical and life-saving interventions to support the most vulnerable flood-affected communities in Bay, Hiraan, and Middle Shabelle regions. 

"However, despite the response of donors resources available remain limited and additional funding will be required in early 2020 to sustain humanitarian response across the country," said a release from OCHA on end of December.

Some US$860 million or 80 per cent of the required $1.08 billion has been mobilized against the 2019 Humanitarian Response Plan, which was prepared in late 2018 and thus only partially reflected the financial requirements as the humanitarian situation evolved during 2019.