Heavy flooding has affected and displaced about 426,000 people in South Sudan, including 185,000 children, as overflowing rivers deluged homes and farms in the impoverished country, the UN’s emergency-response agency said on Tuesday.
Emergency workers have used canoes and boats to reach people cut off by the deluge, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in a briefing note, warning that more heavy rains and flooding were expected in the coming months.
The downpours “have exacerbated the vulnerability of communities, with many people displaced by the floods seeking refuge in churches and schools”, the agency said.
In Bentiu, the capital of Unity state, which is home to about a third of the flood-hit population, desperate farmers begged for help, as rising waters triggered by early seasonal rainfall submerged their houses and their land.
“Even the animals are being affected. All the places we use to graze them in are all flooded with water,” farmer Gatjiath Pal told AFP.
“Everywhere is water… and we don’t know when this will end because it is raining every day here,” he said.
Other villagers said they were frightened of being bitten by snakes as the deluge prompts the reptiles to seek shelter inside buildings.
“Life here is so miserable,” Nyadak Chuol, a mother of three, told AFP.
“The roads are getting blocked… water has come up to our houses. We are struggling every day now to find safe places to stay,” the 33-year-old said.
READ ALSO: ‘Failed’ Coup Attempt Reported In Sudan[1]
“The worst thing is that… wild and dangerous animals like snakes are moving closer to us,” she added.
The heavy downpours have destroyed flimsy thatched huts and killed livestock, a year after record floods affected about 700,000 people.
Around 100,000 of those displaced in last year’s disaster have still not returned home, the UN agency said.
In addition to health facilities being damaged or destroyed by the floods, 113 schools have also been affected, putting children’s education at risk, it warned.
Meanwhile rescue teams are struggling to get aid to some 25,000 people in Warrap, a northwest state plagued by deadly conflict between rival ethnic groups.
Aid Cuts
OCHA last month warned of limited supplies and a funding shortfall, saying that it had only received 54 percent of the $1.7 billion (1.4 billion euros) required to pay for programmes in the country.
Funding shortages have also forced the UN World Food Programme to suspend food aid to over 100,000 displaced people in South Sudan, the agency said earlier this month, warning of further reductions unless it received more cash.
Four out of five of South Sudan’s 11 million people live in “absolute poverty”, according to the World Bank in 2018, while more than 60 percent of its population suffers from severe hunger from the combined effects of conflict, drought and floods.
Since achieving independence from Sudan in 2011, the young nation has been in the throes of a chronic economic and political crisis, and is struggling to recover from the aftermath of a five-year civil war that left nearly 400,000 people dead.
Although a 2018 ceasefire and power-sharing deal between President Salva Kiir and his deputy Riek Machar still largely holds, it is being sorely tested, with little progress made in fulfilling the terms of the peace process.
AFP
References
- ^ ‘Failed’ Coup Attempt Reported In Sudan (www.channelstv.com)
Newer articles:
- Humanitarian Coordinator a.i. in South Sudan condemns attack on a humanitarian convoy in Yei County, Central Equatoria - 22/09/2021 02:28
- ‘High time for Peace and Accountability in South Sudan’ - 22/09/2021 02:02
- South Sudan minister Martin Elia Lomuro given access to frozen account - 21/09/2021 15:00
- Sudan says 21 officers held over coup bid - 21/09/2021 13:45
- Alexandria-Cape Town highway is Egypt’s replacement for a redundant Suez Canal - 21/09/2021 13:02
Older news items
- Sudan says coup thwarted, accuses Bashir loyalists - 21/09/2021 12:32
- UNMISS trains South Sudanese military commanders on human rights and international humanitarian laws - 21/09/2021 12:01
- South Sudan's first seminarian to study at Rome's Pontifical University of the Holy Cross - 21/09/2021 05:38
- Military coup attempt fails in Sudan - state media - 21/09/2021 01:20
- Kiir Appoints More MPs, Fulfils Peace Deal for Legislature Composition - 21/09/2021 01:08
Latest news items (all categories):
- Hope for Christmas gift as South Sudan talks return to Nairobi - 05/12/2024 10:26
- Chinese medical team brings relief to South Sudan patients - 05/12/2024 10:18
- Sudanese bishop speaks about being brutalized by soldiers - 05/12/2024 10:08
- President Biden: Absent Principles - No Honoring Words - Broken Promises - 05/12/2024 09:55
- South Sudan’s ‘Game Of Thrones’ Continues – Analysis - 01/12/2024 17:47
Random articles (all categories):
- South Sudan war to drag on without regional intervention: Uganda - 20/05/2014 15:31
- مذكرة أحتجاجية - 24/02/2011 09:33
- South Sudan readies for rebel chief's return - 17/04/2016 21:38
- Probe torture of peace team, Kenya tells South Sudan - 23/12/2018 22:05
- South Sudan says orders army to halt attacking rebels for month - 07/05/2014 17:29
Popular articles:
- Who is the darkest person in the world, according to Guinness World Record? - 25/10/2022 02:34 - Read 58638 times
- No oil in troubled waters - 25/03/2014 15:02 - Read 22221 times
- School exam results in South Sudan show decline - 01/04/2012 17:58 - Read 21370 times
- NDSU student from South Sudan receives scholarship - In-Forum - 29/09/2012 01:44 - Read 18901 times
- Top 10 weakest currency exchange rates in Africa in 2023 - 19/07/2023 00:24 - Read 18051 times