Australia will provide an extra $2 million (US$1.4 million) in aid assistance for Kiribati as the pacific country’s drought continues to worsen.
The assistance comes following the country’s state of disaster declaration on June 13, after the pacific nation experienced below-average rainfall over the past 6 months, which has led to high levels of salinity in the drinking water across the country.
This year, Kiribati has recorded less than 5.8 cm (2.3 inches) of rainfall, and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) estimates that at least 119,000 people residing in Kiribati have been affected by the drought, including 79 percent of the total population in the southern islands of the Pacific nation, who are dependent on rainwater harvesting….