SENEGAL-STORM DAMAGE Extensive property damage in Senegal after Hurricane Fred

Record ID: 141825

  • Title: SENEGAL-STORM DAMAGE Extensive property damage in Senegal after Hurricane Fred
  • Date: 4th September 2015
  • Summary: BARGNY ON SEA, SENEGAL (SEPTEMBER 1, 2015) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF DESTROYED HOMES ON THE BEACH AFTER SEVERE STORM CHILD CLAMBERING ON TYRES AND ROCKS IN FRONT OF DESTROYED HOME WOMEN AND CHILDREN STANDING BEACH WITH GOATS AND DESTROYED HOMES AND PEOPLE NDEYE YACINE DIAGNE MIDWIFE IN HER DESTROYED HOUSE/ DIAGNE MOVING HER FRIDGE INSIDE DESTROYED HOME COLLAPSED HOME (SOUNDBITE) (Wolof) NDEYE YACINE DIAGNE, MIDWIFE SAYING: "This kind of thing happens all the time, 12 months out of 12 we live with this. Its something we have to live with but this time was worse." MAGUETTE SECK, YELLOW T-SHIRT, MOVING HER BELONGINGS IN FRIEND'S HOUSE AFTER LOSING HER HOME WOMEN MOVING THINGS IN HOUSE (SOUNDBITE) (Wolof) MAGUETTE SECK, TRADER SAYING: "We don't need cooking oil, we can get that ourselves, because the women of Bargny know nothing other than work, we dry smoked fish, that's our job, and our husbands are fishermen. But we can't get a house just like that. We don't earn enough for that yet. They need to find a place for us to live. It's better than bringing us rice or oil every year and then when the sea comes back its going to the be same all over again." THIAROYE, SENEGAL (SEPTEMBER 2, 2015) (REUTERS) FISHERMEN WITH BOATS AND NETS VARIOUS OF FISHERMEN PREPARING NETS IN FRONT OF HOUSES ON THE BEACH (SOUNDBITE) (Wolof) EL HADJ MALICK SAMB, FISHERMAN SAYING: "This is hard. Aall we know is the sea. Our houses are by the sea, as well as everything we own. The sea provides for families, and everything we do is thanks to the sea. Now all the fishing nets and the equipment is ruined, it's a very difficult situation." PEOPLE ON THE BEACH CHILDREN IN THE SEA WAVES PEOPLE LOOKING AT THE SEA BARGNY, SENEGAL (SEPTEMBER 1, 2015) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF MAYOR OF BARGNY, ABDOURAHMEN SECK WORKING AT HIS DESK (SOUNDBITE) (French) ABDOURAHMEN SECK, MAYOR OF BARGNY SAYING: "It's been more than 20 years and every year it's the same thing. We know there are a lot of discussions, at the international level, in particular I am thinking of the Paris summit (Cop21), which is being organised for December. But after so many summits, during which we keep coming back to the same issue, no solutions are ever found, at least not concrete ones. For the simple reason that the financial means to help a number of countries that do not have those means, that do not have as many tools at their disposal as developed countries, never step up." DAKAR, SENEGAL (SEPTEMBER 2, 2015) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF IBRAHIMA FALL ADVISER TO THE ENVIRONMENT MINISTER, WALKING ON THE BEACH (SOUNDBITE) (French) IBRAHIMA FALL, ADVISER TO THE ENVIRONMENT MINISTER OF SENEGAL SAYING: "The government of Senegal took the appropriate measures to put in place coastal protection infrastructures within these (coastal) zones through the climate fund, because Senegal was the first country to benefit from this fund, a finance window from the sale of carbon. So in Rufisque, as you have probably seen, there is a sea wall of about one kilometre to protect cemeteries and homes. Unfortunately, this work, which is extremely expensive - one million per square kilometre - the state could not continue to protect the whole coast - we have 700 km. of coast line."
  • Embargoed: 19th September 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Senegal
  • Country: Senegal
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAC6J2IP44UBD15Z5FTAQ1OMLMH
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: As Hurricane Fred lashed the West African island of Cape Verde on Monday night (August 31), 614 miles across the sea in Senegal the edge of the storm was hitting the coast causing severe damage to homes and boats.
    Buildings all along the beach in Bargny, about 15 km. from the capital Dakar, were demolished and residents were left homeless.
    Every year the severe weather on the Senegalese coast affects thousands of people who live off the sea.
    But this year, midwife Ndeye Yacine, who lives in Bargny said it was a lot worse than usual.
    "This kind of thing happens all the time, 12 months out of 12 we live with this. its something we have to live with but this time was worse," she said.
    Another resident, Maguette Seck, who makes smoked fish in Bargny, complained that the government and local authorities were not doing enough to protect them and their business after officials came to visit and gave residents food to alleviate their loss.
    She said she wants the government to relocate them to safer areas.
    "We don't need cooking oil, we can get that ourselves, because the women of Bargny know nothing other than work, we dry smoked fish, that's our job, and our husbands are fishermen. But we can't get a house just like that. We don't earn enough for that yet. They need to find a place for us to live. It's better than bringing us rice or oil every year and then when the sea comes back its going to the be same all over again," said Seck.
    Hundreds of fishermen's boats in Thiaroye, a suburb of Dakar were tossed against the poorly built homes and huts along the coast during the storm.
    Although the government is trying to persuade them and their families to move away from the coastline, fisherman El Hadj Malick Samb says he can't afford to go anywhere else.
    "This is hard. All we know is the sea. Our houses are by the sea, as well as everything we own. The sea provides for families, and everything we do is thanks to the sea. Now all the fishing nets and the equipment is ruined, it's a very difficult situation," said Samb.
    The mayor of Bargny, Abdourahmen Seck, is angry. He explained that although some land was set aside to re-house coastal families in the late 90s the government sold it a few years later to make way for coal production.
    Coastal erosion is a real problem in Senegal that regularly destroys families and businesses.
    In 2011, the country received 8.6 million USD from the World Bank to build barriers along the beaches to protect the coast from a rising sea level believed to be the direct result of climate change.
    Seck said that the funds were not enough, describing the sea wall built in Thiaroye as just a drop in the ocean.
    He is calling on developed nations meeting at the COP21 Climate Conference in Paris at the end of the year to come up with real solutions to Senegal's real problem.
    "It's been more than 20 years and every year it's the same thing. We know there are a lot of discussions, at the international level, in particular I am thinking of the Paris summit (Cop21), which is being organised for December. But after so many summits, during which we keep coming back to the same issue, no solutions are ever found, at least not concrete ones. For the simple reason that the financial means to help a number of countries that do not have those means, that do not have as many tools at their disposal as developed countries, never step up," Seck said.
    The adviser to the Senegal Environment Minister, Ibrahima Fall, said the government was working hard on well targeted projects to protect the sea-dependent population.
    But he admitted that the climate change funding from international donors could not cover the cost of protecting the entire coast.
    "The government of Senegal took the appropriate measures to put in place coastal protection infrastructures within these (coastal) zones through the climate fund, because Senegal was the first country to benefit from this fund, a finance window from the sale of carbon. So in Rufisque, as you have probably seen, there is a sea wall of about one kilometre to protect cemeteries and homes. Unfortunately, this work, which is extremely expensive - one million per square kilometre - the state could not continue to protect the whole coast - we have 700 km. of coast line," he said.
    Tourism, another important source of income for Senegal, is also affected.
    The beach in the tourist resort of Saly is fast disappearing and large rocks have been placed along them to stem the rise of the waves.
    Senegal's prime minister, after visiting communities affected by the latest storm, on Wednesday (September 2), said the government was working with the Economic and Monetary Union of West Africa and the World Bank to finance further protection measures to save the country's coast, protect communities and tourism.
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