Somali deaths low as waves hit sparsely populated region, bishop says

Published: 2005-01-06

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Somali casualties from the Dec. 26 tsunamis were limited because the killer waves struck a sparsely populated area, an Italian bishop said. Bishop Giorgio Bertin of Djibouti, apostolic administrator of Somalia, said the majority of deaths occurred on the Somali island of Hafun, a fishing community of about 2,500 people. Although international news agencies list Somalia's death toll at about 300, Bishop Bertin said that the absence of a working government makes an accurate census almost impossible. "It is true that there were fishermen killed there, but there is no real figure on dead people in that area," he told Catholic News Service in a Jan. 6 telephone interview from Djibouti. "This (Somalia) is a country where no one is in control, so it is very difficult to get real news," he said. The bishop said the lack of a functioning government also will hamper aid and development projects. Somalia has not had a functioning central government since the January 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.

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