Floods create humanitarian disaster in Kenya, region
Pastor Dale Morgan
Floods create humanitarian disaster in Kenya, region*
POSTED: 1628 GMT (0028 HKT), November 29, 2006
NAIROBI, Kenya (Reuters) -- The worst floods in decades have killed 11
more Kenyans in the last two weeks, bringing the death toll to 34 since
last month, the Red Cross said on Wednesday.
Torrential rains have battered the Horn of Africa region in recent
weeks, killing hundreds, uprooting thousands more and triggering a
humanitarian disaster. Somalia and parts of neighboring Ethiopia and
Kenya have been particularly hard hit.
"Our assessment is one person died in Northeastern province and 10 in
Eastern," a Kenyan Red Cross spokeswoman said.
Earlier this month, the charity appealed for $7 million for flood
relief, and she said it would now need more than that.
So far, the appeal had only raised about $70,000, she said.
A Kenyan government minister gave a lower overall death toll, saying 20
people had died since the floods began. He said the authorities were
working with the United Nations to deliver emergency aid and move
affected communities to higher ground.
"Our estimation is that 20 people have died so far," said Wario Ali, an
assistant minister for special programmes. He said the government had
spent $3 million so far on relief operations.
At the weekend, aid agency ActionAid urged Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki
to declare the flooding a "national emergency".
But on Wednesday government spokesman Alfred Mutua said relief efforts
were under control.
"The flooding is still not as bad as El Nino. It is something we are
managing. We are not in the habit of declaring anything a national
emergency," he said.
The situation is worse in Somalia, where more people have lost their
homes, but security problems have restricted efforts by aid agencies to
help them.
"In some areas people are sitting on dykes, completely surrounded by
water and have no access to drinking water and food," said the
International Committee of the Red Cross.
In a statement on Wednesday, it said it was airlifting tarpaulins to
350,000 Somalis in the worst affected areas. Weather experts expect the
rains to continue into January.