LocationsHawassa to address the challenges of hazards and rapid urbanization
Risk informing cities for resilience
January 13, 2026
Milkiyas Daniel is a farmer and father of four, who first moved to Hawassa 30 years ago. “I came to this place with my uncle. Back then, the lake was much farther away from where we live now,” he recalls. “I used to grow vegetables and raise poultry. But now much of the land is covered by the lake water.”
Flooding has become a serious and life‑threatening concern for Milkiyas and his family, who first experienced it four years ago. “It was around 3:00 am when the flood hit our neighbourhood. There was heavy rain, and the power was gone. It was the scariest moment of our lives. We called the woreda officials and other government authorities to rescue us.” The flood washed away much of his farmland, destroyed the community’s assets, and forced the neighbourhood to move to higher ground.
“Since then, each rainy season brings fear, and we are not sure what would happen to us. We never know if our house, or even our lives, will be safe. I am now left with nothing,” - Milkiyas
Many residents around Lake Hawassa face similar hardships during the rainy season. Meselech Hayiso, a mother of two, who is now raising her deceased son’s two children, lives in deep sorrow. Flooding has recurred in her neighbourhood for the last four years, forcing her to live in constant fear and stress. “I lost all my household items in the flood. Each rainy season, we must leave our homes and stay in tents, provided by the government, with the support of other generous people, and return when the rainy season passes. When we return after months away, our house is unusable, and we must start our lives from scratch.”
"We are now facing health problems due to bad smells coming from contaminated soil and stagnant water. I have developed asthma as a result." - Meselech
Impact on the fishing industry
Flooding and water contamination not only threaten farmland but also impact Lake Hawassa’s fishing industry, on which many young people and their families heavily rely for their livelihoods.
Masemo Umar, 18, has been fishing from a young age, contributing his earnings to the family’s income. He recalls that when he started fishing, they caught 400 to 500 fish per day. Each fish sold for two or three Birr. But now, he and other fishermen would stay out the whole night, only catching forty or fifty fish a day, and are forced to sell their fish at a higher price—for as much as 22 or 23 Birr. “On top of the declining supply of the fish, the frequent floods have also become a source of health concerns. When the water level rises, it flows into nearby ditches and carries everything back into the lake.”
"We even wash the fish with the contaminated water, as we don’t have any other options." - Masemo
Government readiness and the way forward
UNDP’s Resilient Urban Futures Initiative is helping Hawassa to better understand the risk landscape. Through the initiative a comprehensive risk profiling exercise has been conducted, a major milestone in Hawassa’s journey to become a resilient metropolis.
The initiative is funded by the Governments of Denmark, Luxembourg, and the Republic of Korea, administered through UNDP Funding Windows.
UNDP partnered with the Ethiopian Disaster Risk Management (EDRMC), the Sidama Regional DRM Commission, and Hawassa City Administration to strengthen city systems and enhance community resilience to interconnected urban risks.
The core focus of the initiative is improving access to actionable disaster and climate risk information for Hawassa City Administration and its partners. This includes strengthening the city’s capacity to identify multiple hazards, including flooding, pollution, heatwaves, etc., and identifying vulnerable communities and wider populations.
The risk profiling process was followed by the development of an evidence-based Multi-Year City Resilience Strategy and Investment Plan, which guides targeted interventions and long-term investments in resilience building.
To strengthen capacity, the city administration is working with regional and national authorities, universities, and development partners. The next phase of resilience‑building includes the following key priorities:
Supporting the city in integrating disaster and climate risk considerations into all development efforts, policies and sectoral programs; using the risk profile data to guide planning, infrastructure and investment decisions; mainstream resilience into strategies and plans; strengthening risk governance through better coordination among sectoral offices in the city administration, development partners, civil societies, the private sector and the community at risk.
Reducing community vulnerability by targeted interventions to high-risk and marginalised communities, improving access to basic services and promoting resilient livelihoods through support for small enterprises, and strengthening critical infrastructures to withstand flood shocks.
Strengthening community coping and adaptive capacity through training, Community-based Resilience Building (CBRB), social protection and integrating local risk knowledge with scientific and technical evidence.
On 4 January 2025, federal and regional officials, UNDP representatives, technical experts, and community representatives came together to collectively review the risk profile. During the session, participants reflected on the identified hazards and the need to address them urgently. Participants agreed on urgent forward‑looking actions and renewed their commitment to take part in building a more resilient Hawassa.
Resilience is about people
The stories of Milkiyas, Meselech and Masemo illuminate why resilience is about risk‑informed planning and policy goals that concretely translate into the lived experience of communities. With collective effort and strong partnerships, Hawassa can transform from a city at risk into a model of resilience for other urban settings in Ethiopia and beyond.
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