United Nations Radio

People in Niger face severe flooding

Flash floods have worsened an already chronic humanitarian crisis caused by drought in central Africa where aid agencies have warned that "10 million people are already facing severe food shortages, particularly in the landlocked countries of Chad and Niger. Unusually heavy rains have now hit Niger and washed away this year's crops and killed thousands of cattle in a region dependent on subsistence agriculture. UN Radio's Alpha Diallo in Geneva spoke with Modibo Traoré, head of the UN Humanitarian Office in Niger, about the impact of the floods.

 TRAORE: Actually the Sahel is facing heavy rainfall which is causing floods in most of the Sahalen countries. In the favor of climate change vegetation is becoming much more recurrent. For the specific case of Niger, since the beginning of June the country is facing floods almost everywhere in all regions of the country including the capital city which is Niamey. Up to now we have more than 200,000 people who have been affected by the floods. All families are staying in the public infrastructure such as schools. And in the regard to the forthcoming school are resuming activities and this is causing serious concerns for all authorities and humanitarian actors

DIALLO: And do you think that the flooding could worsen?

TRAORE: Yes, because we have still one month ahead for the rainy season and the rainfall is continuing almost throughout the country and we may expect much more victims of the flood.

DIALLO: We are talking about displaced people but what about if some people die after this flooding?

TRAORE: Up to now we have five to six people who have died because of the flood situation and while we pray God for this situation to not happen again - at least the loss of life - but we are still expecting more people to be victims of the flood in terms of displacement and loss of the means of subsistence.

DIALLO: And some animals have died in the flood but what are the authorities doing to quickly burn or bury their bodies to ensure that water sources are not contaminated?

TRAORE: That is a big concern. Throughout the country we have more than 100,000 cattle who have been lost because of the heavy rainfall. The authorities have started some actions to address that situation. In some areas they started burning dead bodies of animals or burying them. But we have to acknowledge that in some remote areas, nothing has been done so far because of problem of accessibility to those areas. Due to the rainy season, and also one of the main concerns is the limited resources of the local authorities and also of humanitarian partners to address the disaster issue in those areas.

DIALLO: And OCHA is calling on donors and aid agencies. What are you urgent needs in Niger?

TRAORE: The main needs are basically the food. The total food needs is above 10,000 tons. Up to now it's only a little more than 1,000 which have been covered and there's a serious gap. Regarding also the severe food security situation that the country is facing, which is increasing, significantly, the caseload which needs to be addressed by the humanitarian actors and by the authorities. Besides that we have a serious also need in terms of non-food items - tents, blankets, mattresses and as you may know I was saying that the school need to resume in two weeks. And not having an alternative to host the vulnerable which are staying in the schools, that will have a negative impact on the school calendar. And besides that Mosquito nets are also required to be given to those victims. But apart from all those needs, something which is very important and sometimes neglected is the early recovery of those people, because after the emergency phase most of the victims are sometime forgotten. There is no other action taken to address the long term need of those people in terms of early recovery and giving them a means of subsistence and to resume their normal life.

DIALLO: And how has the flooding aggravated the food security crisis in Niger?

TRAORE: More than half of the population of Niger was facing severe or moderate food security situation. And in terms of assistance this is increasing the number, the caseload which it can address in terms of food assistance in the country. We have to divert sometimes some food to address to the urgent needs of people affected by floods. And one of the aspects is the middle term impact in term of the harvest. As I said a lot of farms or gardens have been destroyed because of the flood and that will have an impact in terms of the upcoming harvest.

Modibo Traoré, head of the UN Humanitarian Office in Niger.

Producer: Alpha Diallo
Duration: 4'07"