Sudanese capital needs urgent drainage system – residents

Sudanese capital needs urgent drainage system – residents

By Ngor Arol Garang

August 30, 2009 (KHARTOUM) — Residents of the Sudanese capital Khartoum, have broken their silence to say the city needs urgent proper drainage system.

This comes after the recent heavy rains in Khartoum resulting into severe floods in almost all outskirts of the capital.

Khartoum state authorities recognized the existence of a bug in the draining system of rain water that hit the Sudanese capital, over three days, at high rates. Also, the death toll of floods has reached 36 people, while the number of collapsed homes is at 21534 houses.

Speaking during an interview at Arabi, Deng Mawien, an internally displaced person from the south who lives in Wad El Bashir, Khartoum, said that the rains have started again bringing despair to the residents. “We are very tired. We have lost a lot of our possessions, he adds.

He continued to add that since the recent rains, access to neighborhoods in the outskirts of Khartoum has become difficult because of the ponds formed in most streets. Many houses have been flooded by water forcing residents to move.

Asked what have those who have been forcefully thrown out of their residents by recent heavy rains doing to shelter themselves, he said, some have been welcomed by close neighbors; others have preferred to leave the area completely.

He further said that these rains have left nothing built. Even the mosques have not been spared by the floods. In some places, clouds of flies and mosquitoes compete for excrement discharged by septic tanks mixed with water spillage, raising fears of a resurgence of diseases like cholera, he said.

However, in a last week cabinet meeting, government of national unity quickly resolved that a response team be formed to address this flood issue.

The team under direct supervision of the ministry of humanitarian affairs formed and dispatched groups to help victims save their belongings and evacuate their flooded homes. They are continuing to assess damage.

The team is assisted by some International organizations. Disaster management organizations are offering drainage materials to the government to provide immediate assistance to affected families, pending a final evaluation that will determine the number of victims and their needs.

They are also providing affected families particularly areas inhabited by IDPS mosquito net, tarpaulin, mats, jerry cans, blankets, water purification tablets, soap and detergents.

The first of these international organizations is the United Nation Mission in Sudan that came to support affected areas said Hawa Fatima, a mother of seven children, living in Buri suburb.

“This will certainly help us cope with the risk of diseases that threatens the neighborhood,” she says.

“We have been able to offer our assistance in the suburbs of Khartoum within 48 hours,”explains Yousif Maki, who, according to his UN ID works for UNMIS as national humanitarian affairs officer.

He further said they are monitoring the situation closely with Disaster Management team in the ministry of humanitarian affairs.

Maki said both government and UN have embarked on pumping water out of the homes with the use of motorized equipment.

Earlier Maki, who did not want to be interviewed as he is not authorized, hesitantly said that more people are affected; thousands of families have been uprooted from their homes and material losses are considerable in Haj Yousif and Omdurman.

(ST)

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