RCA gives out aid to 1600 Sudanese families in flood-hit areas

The UAE Red Crescent Authority (RCA) yesterday distributed more amounts of blankets, water-proof clothing, mosquito nests, mattresses and bottled water to 1600 Sudanese families displaced by flash floods in the hardest-hit areas south of the Capital City of Khartoum. RCA has also sent a relief convoy to the state of Al Gazira, another state where floods resulting from five hours of torrential rain at night uprooted thousands of people and forced displaced the families in some areas to camp along roads in the open. The agency's team in the state of Al Gazira started in Umm Al Qura locality, where floods made the difficult humanitarian conditions forced the authorities to evacuate the residents by boats to nearby makeshift camps. RCA team also inspected the medical centre which consists of only one-ward and one pharmacy to serve hundreds of displaced people who almost live in the open, as makeshift shelters made of just anything at hand, such as plastic sheets, will no longer provide protection from more heavy rains expected in the coming days. The head of RCA's delegation to Sudan, Salim Sultan Al Suwaidi, said the UAE's humanitarian major will spare no effort to help the Sudanese brothers. The UAE aid operation conveys a message of love and peace from the UAE people to the Sudanese people and reflect the increasingly strong ties between the two peoples," The mayor of the locality, Ahmad Mohammed Sulaiman Al Shaiki, noted that this year's rains battering the area are the heaviest since 1979. "The residents of village No. 38 in the locality will be relocated to safe areas as all its houses and buildings were destroyed. Twenty one abortions took place during the very difficult evacuation of women and residents," he said. RCA's effort in the last few days targeted the Umm Oushosh area where floods swept a houses forcing the evacuation of people to less-affected areas. According to local officials in the state of Gazira, 17 people were killed and more than 3450 houses in four localities were completely swept and more than 3720 houses were partially damaged. Usama Mohammed Othman, the Executive Director of the branch of Sudan's National Society said 25 public service installations collapsed and hundreds of cattle heads died in the disaster. "Shelter is urgently needed for 2455 displaced families, and clean water distribution stations and tankers in the hit area," he added. The hardest hit areas in Sudan include the states of Khartoum, Gazira, Northern and River Nile, according to the International Federation of Red cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). "Some displaced families, mostly women and children, are camping along the tarmac road, others have found shelter staying with relatives who have homes on higher ground." According to IFRC recent assessments, the flooding has affected some 125,000 people, destroyed almost 14,000 houses and damaged 6,850. More than 5,600 latrines were in a state of collapse.