Floods, disease afflict Sahel
2007-08-15 19:14
Dakar - A few weeks ago farmers in parts of Africa's arid Sahel region were fretting that late rains had failed their crops.
Now many are struggling to survive after downpours swept away food stocks, destroyed thousands of homes and killed more than 100 people across the Sahel, which stretches from Senegal on the Atlantic seaboard to Port Sudan on the Red Sea.
"This country is a paradox. Floods are just one of the
natural disasters which hit it regularly, after bush fires and
drought," said Hamani Harouna, head of the national humanitarian
Early Warning System in impoverished Niger, at the heart of the
Sahel.
Last month (July), farmers in nearby Ivory Coast were complaining seasonal rains had failed to arrive on time, meaning seeds had not germinated and key crops such as cotton were under threat.
Since then there has been a deluge.
'Prepared for worst possible scenario'
Scientists have told the United Nations Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change that rising temperatures around the world will contribute to changing weather patterns in the Sahel.
Some have fingered global warming as a factor behind extreme
temperatures, storms and drought around the world this year.
In Sudan, Africa's biggest country and the worst affected by
recent weather, floods have carried away or drowned more than 70
people since the rains began - which in Sudan's case came earlier than usual.
"The rains started at the very beginning of July. Normally
they start a bit later with this intensity," said Maurizio Giuliano, spokesperson for UN humanitarian coordinator OCHA.
At least 365 000 people there have lost food stocks, possessions or part of their home, including 50 000 whose homes were completely destroyed, OCHA said.
The agency expects further rainfall and flooding will affect
265 000 more people in the coming weeks, while flood waters have contaminated water sources and spread cholera, bringing the
death toll from the water-borne disease to 53 this rainy season,
according to the World Health Organisation.
"We have to be prepared for the worst possible scenario,"
Giuliano said.
Additional reporting by Abigail Haulohner, Opheera McDoom,
Abdoulaye Massalatchi, Betel Miarom, Tiemoko Diallo, Diadie Ba & Katrina Manson