Région de Galgadud, Dusamareb. Clinique du Croissant-Rouge somalien. Galgadud region, Dusamareb. Somali Red Crescent clinic. 14-17.05.2007 ICRC assists families displaced from Mogadishu. Following heavy fighting which occurred in Mogadishu at the end of March, hundred thousands of persons were displaced, taking refuge in central and southern regions of Somalia. Some of them had to travel days before finding a place to set their small and basic makeshift hut. April and May are the season of the first rains; with no proper shelter, children, exhausted by the long journey, are easy preys for diseases. "Some of them arrives at clinics with watery diarrhoeas and malnourished" says Nasro, responsible of the Somali Red Crescent clinic in Dusamareb, a town 500 kilometres from Mogadishu which hosts some of the displaced families from Mogadishu. ICRC teams sent to regions hosting displaced families, reported drastic lack of shelters, food, essential household items and in some areas drinkable safe water. "Some families left Mogadishu with empty hands and they are staying under trees with their children, they have no food, no shelter, nothing" reported Daniel Gagnon, one of ICRC delegates who assessed the situation at the beginning of April. ICRC emergency responses Since end of March, the ICRC has stepped up its humanitarian operations in Somalia to treat the wounded and assist displaced families. The ICRC is one of few organisations continuing its activities during the fighting. It has been doing so since 1977. In close collaboration with the Somali Red Crescent Society (SRCS), the ICRC planed a multifaceted emergency action. Needs were extremely diverse. In Somalia, the security for delivering humanitarian aids and the huge number of locations where the assistance has to be sent to, are part of the challenges. "Displaced families are scattered everywhere in central and southern regions, making the distribution work difficult, there are hundreds of camps. Ho