Contact: Amber Meikle, 0207 9349348, meikle@careinternational.org; Lurma Rackley in Atlanta, 404-979-9450, lrackley@care.org, both with CARE International

DADAAB, Kenya, Dec. 4 /Standard Newswire/ -- Some 195,000 people have been affected by rains that have flooded refugee camps in Kenya, home to 160,000 refugees. Some camps are completely cut-off except by air.

Dadaab in Kenya is no stranger to crisis. The area has been home to hundreds of thousands of people seeking refuge, mostly from neighbouring Somalia, since 1991. Heavy rains and floods are now causing havoc, worsening an already precarious humanitarian situation. Flooding has turned roads into impassable bogs, and left vast numbers refugees cut off from food and medical supplies, except by air. Many have been forced to move to higher ground.

CARE is helping 130,000 people who have lost livestock and homes, and who are at risk from water borne illnesses such as diarrhea and malaria. Our management of three camps includes food distribution, education, social services and water and sanitation. In response to the floods, we have been on the ground providing immediate and essential emergency relief:

• Shelter: CARE continues to distribute 210 tarpaulins as emergency shelter in the Dadaab camp, for those who have lost their homes.

• Food Distribution: At the outset of the emergency we distributed food to people in the Dadaab camp. We will continue to distribute food in the coming weeks to ensure the people most affected have enough to get through the crisis.

• Water and Sanitation: CARE has been working to provide safe water and sanitation systems in camps including wells, latrines and health education campaigns. CARE has been able to provide clean water to Dadaab using water tanks donated by UNICEF. Toilets are also being constructed in the area and we are working in El-Wak camp to disinfect 122 wells, campaign for safe water use, and distribute water purifiers to 480 households.

• Long-term projects: CARE is working to provide education and community services such as counseling, conflict resolution, and support for those in need such as women and orphans. CARE is also training people in the camps in vocational skills, and supporting micro credit programmes to assist them to earn a living again. CARE Australia has been working in Garissa since 2000. As well as assisting refugees, we are currently providing assistance to permanent communities which have been marooned with their livestock by the floods.