WORLD · VERIFIED DEVELOPMENT
Ethiopia Drought 2026: DREF Operation Activated
WHY IT MATTERS
The drought has significant humanitarian impacts, including crop failure, livestock deaths, and widespread deterioration of food security and livelihoods affecting over 3.5 million people.
What happened
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies has activated a DREF operation in response to the El Niño-driven drought in Ethiopia. The drought has severely suppressed Kiremt rainfall, causing crop failure, drying of water points, and livestock deaths.
The affected regions include Oromia, Northern Amhara, and parts of Tigray. According to the National Society's Emergency Operations Centre, 250,035 hectares of crop land have been damaged, 28,629 livestock have died, and over 319 water points have dried out.
The situation has evolved into a humanitarian crisis requiring response.
PRIMARY SOURCES
Ethiopia Drought 2026 - DREF Operation (MDRET042)
ReliefWeb / original provider · International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies · ReliefWeb aggregation; original provider terms apply; link and attribution to the named source required
CORRECTIONS & UPDATES
- Revision 1 · Initial ingestion · Oct 13, 2026, 12:30 AM
- Revision 2 · Source update detected · Oct 13, 2026, 12:30 AM