The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Wednesday warned that over 1.7 million people in Somalia will lack access to safe water and adequate sanitation unless resources are provided to respond.

“If we do not get resources to respond; More than 1.7 million people will not have access to safe water and lack adequate sanitation. Lack of access to water will remain one of the leading causes of displacement, conflict, and disease in Somalia,” the OCHA Somalia tweeted Wednesday.

The OCHA also warned earlier on Tuesday that “the cost of inaction is too high,” stressing that without early funding, humanitarian aids dedicated for essential programs including food, nutritional activities, healthcare and livelihood will have to be stopped.

Early funding would help Somalia save more people from suffering and rescue progress achieved over the last decade from being lost, OCHA said.

Somalia, the Horn of Africa country of over 16 million people, has been suffering from climate shocks and drought, leaving thousands of people under the threat of displacement this year, according to an earlier report by Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) in April.

“Once again Somalia is facing the prospect of serious drought. Water and pasture resources are depleting every day and resulting in people abandoning their homes with their livestock to search for better conditions,” Mohamed Abdi, NRC’s country director in Somalia, was quoted as saying in the report./aa