Meskey Mohammed prepares breakfast for her 2-year-old at home in Geramam. Many in the small community survive by trading what they have, while others buy supplies on credit or sell their remaining cattle.

‘All we need are the resources’

In contrast to past droughts, the government has spent heavily of its own money to stave off famine, putting down $381 million since the summer, which Mitiku Kassa, the head of the Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Committee, points out was practically the entire government budget 20 years ago.

It is not enough, however, and in January, a roundtable with the United Nations, the U.S. Agency for International Development and other donors was held to call for more funds.

Aid agencies have singled out the United States as the most responsive country, with $532 million spent on humanitarian aid since October 2014, including $97 million in aid announced in January.

Kassa said there are signs the world is waking up to the severity of the situation.

“It was so slow because of the prior engagement of the donor partners, especially in the Middle East with the Syrian immigrants to Europe,” he said, adding that “the scale of the drought is far bigger than the drought we confronted in 1984.”

John Graham, the country director of Save the Children for Ethiopia and a 19-year veteran of aid work in the country, said this is the worst international response to a drought that he has seen.

“We have got a really, really bad drought, but we can head off the consequences. All we need are the resources,” he said. “We don’t have to wait six months from now to see hungry babies on television screens.”