Floods hit 50 000 refugees

2006-02-13 20:42

Geneva - Torrential rains had left about 50 000 refugees from Western Sahara in urgent need of aid, said the United Nations on Monday.

UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNCHR) said flood waters had destroyed mudbrick houses and other shelters in three camps in the desert region of Tindouf, Algeria.

The UNHCR said one woman was believed killed and several injured after the torrent struck the three refugee camps.

It said that aid workers from the agency tried to travel to the affected camps at the weekend, but were able to reach only two.

There, they said, there had been enormous structural damage to schools, community centres and market areas.

The UNHCR said they were unable to reach the third camp because of the flooding.

Sanitation experts

Radhouane Nouicer, the UNHCR's Geneva-based deputy director for the region, said: "We are concerned about the effect this will have on the Sahrawi refugees who have already lived under difficult circumstances for so long."

The agency said it was set to send tents, blankets, jerry cans, mattresses and plastic sheeting to the area, as well as water and sanitation experts to bolster the aid teams already there.

It said the UN's World Food Programme also planned an emergency operation. The camps around Tindouf were home to tens of thousands of people.

- AFP