Floods leave thousands homeless in West Africa
Pastor Dale Morgan
Floods leave thousands homeless in West Africa*
15 Sep 2006 18:53:54 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Abdoulaye Massalatchi
NIAMEY, Sept 15 (Reuters) - Floods have forced tens of thousands of
people from their homes in Niger and Burkina Faso, leaving them prone to
deadly diseases like cholera and malaria, officials in the West African
countries said on Thursday.
Torrential rains and flash floods destroyed mud brick buildings and left
more than 32,000 people homeless in Niger, one of the world's poorest
countries on the southern fringe of the Sahara desert, the government said.
At least four people have been killed in the former French colony, with
the highest rainfall since records began in 1923 registered in the oasis
town of Bilma, more than 1,300 km (800 miles) northeast of the capital
Niamey.
Meteorologists say the rainfall in Bilma, where more than 4,000 people
were forced from their homes, has been more than in the last 10 years
combined. In one night 63 mm (2.5 inches) fell.
"Aside from the loss of homes, the floods cause crop damage, the loss of
livestock, illnesses such as cholera and malaria, and cut off remote
regions," the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
(OCHA) said in a statement.
The government in Niger, where 3.6 million people -- more than a third
of the population -- were left short of food last year following drought
and a locust plague, was distributing tents, blankets, mosquito nets and
medicine.
The United Nations World Food Programme was also providing additional
food aid.
Annual heavy rains in West Africa help trigger outbreaks of waterborne
diseases including cholera, flooding latrines and contaminating wells.
Cholera killed at least five people among 60 cases notified in the town
of Zinder, 750 km (470 miles) east of Niamey, in the first outbreak in
Niger since the rains began in July, medical sources told Reuters.
Cholera can kill within 24 hours by inducing vomiting and diarrhoea that
cause severe dehydration, but it is treatable using a simple mixture of
water and rehydration salts.
More than 10,000 people have also been affected by flooding in
neighbouring Burkina Faso while parts of Mauritania, Mali and Nigeria
had seen homes and crops destroyed as well as livestock drowned, the
United Nations said.
"The populations affected have been temporarily accommodated in schools
and administrative buildings, but the school term starts soon and we
will have to put them in tents," said Amade Belem of Burkina Faso's
national emergency management team.
Buildings, farmland and roads were destroyed in the region around Gorom
Gorom, 300 km (186 miles) north of the capital Ouagadougou, while
further west around Gnassoumadougou 1,000 hectares of arable land were
swamped.
(Additional reporting by Mathieu Bonkoungou in Ouagadougou)