African skies rain death, destruction on villagers
Pastor Dale Morgan
African skies rain death, destruction on villagers*
18 Sep 2007 17:26:30 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Miriam Imrie
SANDEMA, Ghana, Sept 18 (Reuters) - As rain fell in torrents onto her
dirt-walled home in northern Ghana, Asubonga Apebani tried desperately
to staunch the leaks in her roof.
But when floodwaters swirled through her village, her house collapsed,
leaving her homeless and hungry along with hundreds of thousands of
other hapless Africans who have suffered a similar drenching fate across
the continent's Sub-Saharan belt.
"I have no sleeping place and the grain stores also fell down. All of
our crops have totally failed. We have no food. We are starving ... we
have been eating only one meal a day," said Apebani, 67, who comes from
Pungu in Ghana's Upper East region.
She is among more than 300,000 people driven from their homes in north
Ghana alone by torrential rains and floods that have swept over East and
West Africa in recent weeks, destroying homes and schools and washing
away crops and livestock.
Conservative estimates put the number of those killed by the deluges at
some 200, and aid agencies say a million people have been affected from
Ethiopia in the east to Senegal in the west.
In Uganda, one of the countries worst hit, death continued to fall from
the sky.
Ugandan officials said lightning killed seven children and injured 17 at
Bujogo Primary School in western Hoima District on Monday, the first day
of the new academic year,
"In a flash of a moment, I saw pupils lying unconscious outside the
classroom ... Some had their skins peeled off," teacher Alexander
Sabiiti told state-owned New Vision newspaper.
As aid agencies swung into action to try to house and feed the homeless
and protect them from disease, many flood victims in northern Ghana were
sleeping at night in schools while they tried to salvage by day what was
left of their belongings.
"The roof fell down ... The sand covered our possessions. We had to dig
them out," said Agodem Abablore, 72, who with his wife Azekpajlie said
they had not eaten for over a day.
Like many elderly villagers, they refused to leave their fragile homes
when the floods worsened, choosing to stay behind to try to guard their
possessions and livestock.
FOOD SHORTAGE THREAT
As it is, many have lost everything to the floods.
Farmer Majid Issaka from the Builsa district, one of the worst affected,
saw his farm on the edge of a river disappear beneath the floodwaters.
"I came and saw the crops were destroyed," he said.
He and others feared disease fomented by the floods would cause many
more victims from cholera and malaria.
"The mosquitoes are coming and many people have been falling sick," he said.
George Isaac Amoo, national coordinator of Ghana's National Disaster
Management Organisation, said that, while floodwaters were receding in
most places, there was a serious threat of food shortages unless more
rapid relief arrived for the victims.
The rains and floods inflicted extensive damage on a northern region
that was traditionally Ghana's major food basket, growing rice, maize,
millet and sorghum.
"This flood is unprecedented; thousands of acres of farmland have been
destroyed, including livestock," Amoo said
"Barns and silos ... stored food ... Infrastructure like bridges and
roads have all been destroyed," he added.
Ghana's government was distributing food rations and United Nations
experts were up in the north assessing emergency needs.
Cocoa, Ghana's main export, is not grown in the flood-hit north, but
heavier than normal rain has produced black pod, a fungal infection, in
some major producing areas. (Additional reporting by Orla Ryan in Accra
and Francis Kwera in Kampala)