Its more than two weeks since the tropical cyclone reached Puntland coastal shores and caused havoc and loss of many lives. Thousands of livestock died and hundreds of homes were destroyed when the region experienced strong winds and flash floods.
Watching the struggle and suffering of the people were the Somali communities living around the world and one such large community lives in Minnesota and most of them had relatives or people they knew who were effected by the cyclone or the floods. After they realized the media is only covering what is happening in the Philippines while not paying attention to the hundreds of people who were dying and many more were missing in northeastern Somalia.
The community leaders in Minnesota started new project which will raise funds for the most effected people and the head of this initiative was the Imam of Abubakar Islamic Center, Shiekh Abdirahman Shiekh Omar. The community has raised $80,000 which will be the first phase of this ongoing effort to help more than 30,000 people which are in need of food, water, shelter and medical supplies according to the UN.
At an official meeting between the leaders of community, the elders and the president of HARO Ali Abdinur, HARO received $60K check to send directly to the effected areas and send back detail report about how it was spent and how many people it helped. The president of HARO promised that the money will be spend in the best way possible to maximize effectiveness and will targeted the most urgent areas.
Watch Video report here (Somali)