The United Nations is warning that Somalia could soon be facing a famine without urgent international action, raising concerns about a repeat of 2011's famine which killed more than a quarter of a million people.The country is in a severe drought after two seasons of weak rainfall, the U.N. said in a statement. "In the worst affected areas, inadequate rainfall and lack of water has wiped out crops and killed livestock, while communities are being forced to sell their assets, and borrow food and money to survive," the U.N. says."If we do not scale up the drought response immediately, it will cost lives, further destroy livelihoods, and could undermine the pursuit of key State-building and peacebuilding initiatives," said the Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia, Peter de Clercq.The number of people in need of assistance is rising rapidly. In September, that figure was at 5 million people – now, it's over 6.2 million.There are growing concerns about the possible human toll, but de Clercq emphasized that at this point, famine is not a foregone conclusion. "A drought — even one this severe — does not automatically have to mean catastrophe if we can respond early enough with timely support from the international community," he said.The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization's Somalia representative, Richard Trenchard, pointed out some of the warning signs: "Labour prices are collapsing; local food prices are rising; food availability is becoming patchy; animal deaths are increasing; and malnutrition rates are rising, especially among children." Conditions are particularly severe in the rural area of Puntland, he said.And as NPR's Gregory Warner explained, it's rare for a famine to officially be declared, and can come after much of the damage has already occurred:
