(reflecting Epidemiological week 20)

BULLETIN HIGHLIGHTS

• Of 37 stool samples collected from patients in Mogadishu during the reporting week, 19% tested positive for cholera on lab culture. Current armed conflict affecting the Afgooye corridor and parts of Mogadishu resulting in renewed population displacement could accelerate the spread of cholera in Mogadishu.
(...)

05/26/2012 09:34 GMT

MOGADISHU, May 26, 2012 (AFP) - Al-Qaeda-linked Somali militants vowed Saturday to intensify the war against government and African Union troops, despite the fall of their key stronghold of Afgoye, the latest in a string of military losses.

'God willing we will continue the war and we will win the battle without doubt,' said Sheik Abdiaziz Abu Musab, spokesman for the hardline Shebab, a day after AU and Somali troops entered Afgoye, a former strategic rebel base.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Regional rains having mixed results
• New groundwater mapping project for Horn launched
• UNHCR announces updated refugee figures for Djibouti; relocations to Holl-Holl camp expected soon - Malnutrition a growing concern in SNNPR, Ethiopia
• In Kenya, more than a quarter million people affected by floods with more rains expected
(...)

05/26/2012 12:43 GMT

JOMBA, DR Congo, May 26, 2012 (AFP) - Mutinous troops in the Democratic Republic of Congo said Saturday they had repulsed attacks by government forces in heavy fighting in the eastern Nord-Kivu province.

Lieutenant Colonel Vianney Kazarama, spokesman of the rebel March 23 Movement (M23), said government troops using both light and heavy weapons were trying to capture Mbuzi, a hilltop base of the deserters.

05/26/2012 02:58 GMT

JAKARTA, May 26, 2012 (AFP) - A landslide in Indonesia killed eight people, an official said Saturday, after days of heavy rain hit a mountainous part of the country's main island.

"The landslide occurred on Thursday night and killed eight people. We were able to retrieve all eight bodies by late Friday night," Bogor Disaster Mitigation Agency official Makmur Rozak told AFP. (...)

05/26/2012 07:42 GMT

by Park Chan-Kyong

Seoul, May 26, 2012 (AFP) - North Korea is suffering a prolonged and widespread drought, state media says, raising fears it will worsen already dire food shortages in the impoverished communist country.

If the unusually dry weather persists to the end of the month, it will be the driest May in 50 years in western coastal areas, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said, warning: 'The drought is expected to get more serious. (...)

05/26/2012

Kabul, May 26, 2012 (AFP) - The death toll from flash floods in a northern Afghan province has hit 50 -- most of them women and children -- an official said on Saturday, a week after the disaster struck.

The floods that inundated Sari Pul province were triggered by torrential rain and have left thousands of people homeless, provincial governor Abdul Jabar Haqbeen told AFP.

05/26/2012 09:16 GMT

PUERTO VALLARTA, Mexico, May 26, 2012 (AFP) - Storm Bud weakened further early Saturday and was downgraded to a tropical depression, but it continued to batter Mexico's coast with strong winds and torrential rain.

However, a new storm named Beryl has formed in the Atlantic, threatening to disrupt the plans of thousands of US beachgoers taking advantage of the long Memorial Day weekend.

05/26/2012 13:59 GMT

DAMASCUS, May 26, 2012 (AFP) - UN observers rushed on Saturday to a town in central Syria where scores of civilians were reportedly massacred, including 25 children, as the opposition renewed calls for air strikes on regime forces.

The shelling of the town of Houla by regime forces, which began at around midday on Friday and continued until dawn on Saturday, killed more than 90 people, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

DESCRIPTION OF HUMANITARIAN SHELTER AND SETTLEMENTS SECTOR ACTIVITIES

When natural disasters or complex emergencies result in housing damage or destruction and population displacement, people typically desire to return rapidly to their communities to rebuild or repair their homes. Unfortunately, this return to normalcy cannot be achieved immediately and often takes months, if not years, particularly when people are displaced far from their communities. In the interim, humanitarian shelter and settlements (S&S) assistance can provide immediate relief while also contributing to recovery, thereby fulfilling USAID/OFDA's mandate of saving lives, alleviating human suffering, and reducing the social and economic impact of humanitarian emergencies.