ABSTRACT
International and Ethiopian Red Cross organizations have been involved in relief activities in the area since the 1973 famine. When famine struck the area again in 1983-1984, they once again provided major relief assistance. In 1985, as part of a rehabilitation strategy, the Ethiopian Red Cross and the League of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies distributed agricultural inputs including seeds, tools, oxen, pesticides, and fertilizers, to 122,000 families. Wollo had a population estimated at 3.4 million in 1984. It is densely populated and is one of the least developed of the seventeen provinces in one of the world's poorest countries. The Upper Mille and the Cheleka River catchment areas are the focus of the Ethiopian Red Cross Society disaster prevention program, an area covering at least 6000 square kilometers. The altitude of the project area varies from 2,700 meters in the Ambassel mountains to 550 meters in lower Cheleka.
