SENEGAL: U.N. official says flooding in West Africa has claimed around 70 lives and left hundreds of thousands facing health risks

Record ID: 376413

  • Title: SENEGAL: U.N. official says flooding in West Africa has claimed around 70 lives and left hundreds of thousands facing health risks
  • Date: 7th September 2009
  • Summary: VARIOUS OF YOUNG GIRL SITTING ON HER FAMILY'S LUGGAGE PEOPLE COMING OUT OF SHELTERS CHILD FAMILY SITTING DOWN TO EAT
  • Embargoed: 22nd September 2009 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Senegal
  • Country: Senegal
  • Topics: Disasters / Accidents / Natural catastrophes
  • Reuters ID: LVA33OA0LRDTOBDWXIKPIJ12ZPQD
  • Story Text: Flooding in West Africa has claimed some 70 lives and left hundreds of thousands facing health risks in the rainy season, a senior U.N. humanitarian official told Reuters on Sunday (September 6) The flooding, an annual phenomenon which this year has hit impoverished Burkina Faso and at least five other countries, has destroyed precious grain stocks and so could trigger a food security crisis in weeks to come.
    "At the moment we have around 430,000 people affected, and the numbers are going up, and since our last evaluation there are at least four or five countries who are clearly identify as having been affected," Herve Ludovic de Lys, region head for the U.N.'s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said in an interview.
    "We can already count close to 70 deaths,"
    Hundreds of thousands of people in Burkina Faso, Senegal, Ghana, Mali, Mauritania and Ivory Coast have seen damage to their homes or are facing health risks linked to the lack of fresh water, deteriorating hygiene or other problems, he said.
    "There are people who are sheltering in schools, in deplorable conditions. So we have the health, and then everything to do with water and sanitation. Clearly you have schools made for 200 pupils sheltering around 3,000 people, so of course, so we also have to prioritise sheltering," De Lys said of the situation in Burkina Faso, where aid workers this week said flood water had smashed bridges and roads and was hampering emergency humanitarian work.
    . Heavy rains across the region means dams (reservoirs) are full and they will soon have to be opened.
    "This means the areas around rivers, like River Senegal, Ghana and other countries can be affected by water being released from dams, and the last point is everything to do with the next agricultural season, because many traditional granaries have been destroyed, many rural roads have been destroyed by these floods, and that will pose problems further down the line for food security,"he added of the regional impact of rains due to last another three weeks and even intensify towards the end of the season.
    In 2007, about 300 people were killed and more than 800,000 affected throughout West Africa when homes, crops and infrastructure were washed away.
    De Lys said resources were scares because West Africa is in competition, with Latin America and the Caribbean, where hurricanes and floods also affected large numbers of people, and said that OCHA was considering launching an appeal for Burkina Faso.
    The flood and drought cycle which hits many African countries each year is a major obstacle to economic development and African leaders want a U.N. climate change summit in Copenhagen this year to acknowledge a link with global warming.
    Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said last week Africa could veto any deal in December which did not compensate the continent. He did not say how much African officials would seek but some experts have suggested a figure of $200 billion a year.
    De Lys said African nations needed help with investment in improving infrastructure and equipment to tackle the impact of climate change, while funding was vital to deal with migration as flood and other damage forced people to leave their homes.
    "This conference needs to openly discuss the human impact of climate change, and West Africa is a good example, because it's a region that's already very poor, and when we add to that the effects of climate change, we can't fight against poverty on that scale," de Lys said.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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