by TINTSWALO BALOYI
JOHANNESBURG, (CAJ News) – AT least 72 people have reportedly died and about 700 injured as West and Central Africa bear the brunt of torrential rains and severe flooding blamed on climate change.
The catastrophe has impacted on more than 716 400 people in the affected regions, which are largely impoverished.
Latest torrential rains and severe flooding have affected the Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Niger, Nigeria, Mali and Togo.
Fatalities are attributed mainly to drowning.
“Every year, we sound the alarm on the effects of climate change and what it means for people’s actual lives: their homes, their ability to farm and to eat, to send their kids to school, to access basic health care,” said Charles Bernimolin, Head of the UN Humanitarian Coordination office for West and Central Africa.
“Meaningful and strategic investments need to be made to ensure communities are prepared (for such tragedies) and that the worst impacts are mitigated ahead of time,” the envoy stressed.
So far, Chad is the worst-hit country by the excessive rains. Dozens of schools and medical centres have also been destroyed or damaged.
Meanwhile, the humanitarian impact due to the landslide triggered by heavy rainfall that occurred in the Ugandan capital Kampala recently, is increasing.
As of Tuesday, at least 25 people had died due to a landslide in a garbage dump, five of them were children. Fourteen people were rescued and an equal number were injured.
Rescue operations are ongoing with diminishing hope of finding more people alive.
It is unclear how many people remain unaccounted for. A new crack has developed in the garbage heap posing a risk of more damage to about 100 households should it collapse.
Later this week, more rainfall is forecast over northern and central Uganda, the East African country.
– CAJ News