As It Happens6:18Worst flooding in decades hits northeastern Nigeria
A country that was already dealing with a militant insurgency and skyrocketing food prices has been struck by catastrophic floods.
More than 30 people have been killed and more than a million displaced by floods in northeastern Nigeria after heavy rainfall caused a dam in Borno state to collapse on Sept. 10.
Emmanuel Bigenimana of the United Nations’ World Food Program has been surveying the damage from a helicopter, and visiting people on the ground in dozens of makeshift refugee camps across the region.
“They have lost everything. This flooding happened in the middle of the night and they were forced to leave their homes empty handed, trying to seek refuge,” he told As It Happens host Nil Koksal.
“They are really in a desperate situation, and we are trying our best to help to save lives.”
But Bigenimana and other aid organizations warn they simply don’t have enough resources to meet the need in a country that was already in the midst of a humanitarian crisis.
The floodwaters have submerged huge swaths of Borno’s capital city, Maiduguri, and brought down the walls of the city’s main prison, causing hundreds of inmates to flee.
Nigerian officials say this is the state’s worst flooding since the same dam collapsed 30 years ago.
Long lines for doctors
In a camp in Maiduguri on Monday, hundreds of people waited hours to see a doctor. Bintu Amadu was there to seek treatment for her son, who had diarrhea.
“We have not received any aid, and our attempts to see a doctor have been unsuccessful. We have been waiting for medical attention since yesterday,” she said.
Ramatu Yajubu was happy she obtained an appointment card after waiting for days, but quickly added: “I am uncertain about receiving attention due to the overwhelming number of people seeking care.”
Mathias Goemaere, a field co-ordinator for Doctors Without Borders, said that even before the floods, residents in Borno were struggling with malnutrition.
He blamed a years-long insurgency by Boko Haram militants, who have driven people from their farms, leaving them unable to plant crops.
“They are exposed to their environment, so what do we see? A lot of waterborne diseases, diarrhea, diarrheal diseases [and] malaria,” Goemaere said.
“So a lot of people, because of malnutrition, are immuno-suppressed, which makes them more susceptible to diseases.”
Not enough food
The World Food Program, Bigenimana said, served hot meals to 50,000 people at emergency soup kitchens in the first few days of the flooding.
But now, he says, they have hundreds of thousands of people registered for meals, and not enough food to meet the need.
The aid organization, he says, was already providing meals to 1.5 million people in Nigeria before the floods hit, in part because of the insurgency, and in part because rising food prices have put groceries beyond many’s people’s reach.
“This is an additional burden, and resources are not enough,” he said.
Logistics are also a challenge, he says, as the flood waters have washed away roads and bridges leaving some communities cut off.
But he says he and his colleagues are working with the government and other aid agencies to drop off cargo and personnel by chopper.
He estimates nearly half the buildings and homes in Maiduguri were under water last week.
“What I saw was really heartbreaking,” he said.
Widespread flooding in Africa
The flooding brought down the walls of the Medium Security Custodial Centre, Maiduguri’s main prison.
Umar Abubakar, spokesperson for the Nigeria Correctional Services, said 281 inmates fled the site, and security personnel were able to recapture seven of the inmates as of Monday.
This, Bigenimana says, has added another level of threat for Nigerians, aid workers and first responders, as the prison held some of the militants who have terrorized the region.
“It’s a very insecure location,” Bigenimana said. “That makes the response more difficult.”
Before the dam collapse in Nigeria, heavy rainfall caused flooding in Cameroon, Chad, Mali and Niger, all part of Africa’s Sahel region that usually receives little rain.
In the last two weeks of August, more than 1.5 million people were displaced across 12 countries in West and Central Africa due to floods, and about 465 have been killed, according to the United Nations humanitarian affairs office.
Bigenimana says this is one of the worst situations he’s faced in his 28 years with the World Food Program.
While he and his colleagues are in emergency response mode right now, he hopes they can soon find the time and resources to look to the future.
“[We need to] think of how we invest more in longer term recovery, as well as the solutions that we really focus on with a climate lens,” he said. “Because these are the effects of climate change.”
With files from Reuters and The Associated Press. Interview with Emmanuel Bigenimana produced by Sarah Jackson