In brief
The East African Community (EAC) adopted a regional El Nino emergency response plan during an extraordinary ministerial meeting in Arusha, Tanzania, amid forecasts of prolonged heavy rains through February 2027. Key priorities include early warning systems, health preparedness, infrastructure resilience, agricultural support, food security, and climate‑induced migration, with designated risk areas across member states. The plan calls for urgent resource mobilization, a shared information dashboard, and strengthened flood‑risk management.
In Arusha, Tanzania, the East African Community (EAC) announced that it had adopted a regional emergency plan to manage the ongoing El Nino‑related flooding and heavy rains that threaten the country’s eastern and coastal communities. The plan was approved on Friday during an extraordinary ministerial meeting of the EAC Joint Sectoral Council on Cooperation in Defence Affairs, Interstate Security and Foreign Policy Coordination.
Ugandan First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of East African Community Affairs Rebecca Kadaga, who chairs the EAC Council of Ministers, urged the member states to unite in response, warning that no single country could contain the cross‑border impacts of extreme weather alone. The statement said the plan focuses on five priority areas: early warning and anticipatory action; health preparedness and response; infrastructure and tourism resilience; agriculture, food security and livelihoods; and climate mobility and displacement.
The EAC’s emergency response plan identifies specific risk areas that would receive the highest priority for assistance. These include the Lake Victoria Basin, Kenya’s Tana River and coastal regions, parts of Somalia, the Karamoja‑Teso cluster, the western highlands of Rwanda and Burundi, eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Tanzania’s Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar.
The meeting directed the EAC Secretariat to mobilize resources urgently and to develop a detailed implementation plan by November 30. It also called for the creation of a regional disaster information‑sharing dashboard by November 25, stronger flood‑risk management measures, and steps to protect transport corridors that run through the affected zones.
Officials said the plan will help the six EAC member states better coordinate their actions and share critical data, including real‑time weather forecasts, hydrological information, and health‑sector alerts. The goal is to reduce the vulnerability of the most exposed communities and ensure a swift, organized response when floods and heavy rains arrive.
The EAC’s announcement comes as meteorological agencies across the region forecast a continuation of the heavy rainfall pattern associated with the current El Nino event through February 2027. The prolonged precipitation is expected to worsen flooding, increase the risk of disease outbreaks, and threaten agricultural production in heavily affected regions.
By establishing a structured plan that unites member states around common priorities and resources, the EAC aims to improve collective resilience to climate shocks while protecting livelihoods and safeguarding transport networks that are essential for cross‑border trade and humanitarian relief.
