NAIROBI, 9 October 2008 (IRIN) - Thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs) living in camps in and around Somalia's southern port town of Marka have been left without shelter after heavy rains pounded the area, officials said.

"We had 10 hours of very heavy rains on Monday that destroyed almost all the shelter for the displaced," said Mahamud Dahir, head of the humanitarian affairs for Lower Shabelle. "Many of the temporary shelters have been washed away."

At least 1,500 IDP families (9,000 people) are affected in Marka, 100km south of the capital Mogadishu.

"The families in the Buulo Ba' ad camp have lost everything," he said. "There is not a single shelter left."

Dahir said some of those affected sought refuge with other families in other camps around the area.

"Their lives were already precarious, now they are out there in the open and we don't have much to help them with," Dahir said.

He said many of the IDPs arrived recently following an upsurge in the fighting in the capital. "We have registered thousands of newly displaced from Mogadishu in the past two weeks."

The Lower Shabelle region was already hosting hundreds of thousands of IDPs from Mogadishu.

Regional medical officer Abdirahman Abdullahi Abdi told IRIN the health of the displaced was deteriorating.

"The heavy rains, with wind, have combined with lack of shelter and lack of adequate food to have a negative impact on their health."

Abdi said an increase in illnesses and diseases, such as diarrhoea and respiratory diseases, had been recorded, mainly among children and the elderly.

Sanitation has also become a major concern. "We have tens of thousands of people with too few latrines and now the rains and the winds have destroyed some of those," he said.

Abdi said cases of malnutrition had increased. "We are getting more and more malnourished children."

Dahir said providing shelter, food and water to the displaced was a priority. "We need to get them some form of shelter urgently before it is too late."

He said the rains were still pounding the area, adding: "The more they remain in the open the more likely [it is] that many will die."

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) reported that torrential rains and strong winds had also hit a string of settlements for hundreds of thousands of IDPs between Mogadishu and Afgooye, destroying makeshift shelters and leaving many homeless once again.

"Initial reports indicate that rains and wind mainly struck IDP settlements in the Kurtunwarrey district, near Afgooye, and in Marka district near Mogadishu," said the agency in a statement on 7 October.

UNHCR said it would distribute 3,500 assistance kits for 21,000 people. The kits contain plastic sheeting, blankets, kitchen sets and sleeping mats.

The sudden and heavy flooding has exacerbated the already difficult circumstances in war-torn Somalia, where over 1.1 million people are displaced.

Some 700,000 people fled Mogadishu in 2007 alone. Since the beginning of 2008, another 170,000 have fled the capital, including at least 35,000 in recent weeks, according to UNHCR.

More people are fleeing fighting in the city described as the worst since the beginning of the latest insurgency in February 2007.

ah/sr

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