NIGERIA: 3,000 people displaced after floods now camping out in schools

KANO, 16 Aug 2005 (IRIN) - More than 3,000 people displaced by flash floods in Nigeria’s eastern Taraba state are facing tough conditions at their temporary shelters, with food, medicines and sanitation materials in short supply, humanitarian officials said on Tuesday.

Dozens of people were killed when the River Jalingo overflowed its banks following heavy rains last week and washed away more than 50 houses. Many of the deaths occurred when the bridge over the river collapsed as people stood on it to observe the rising waters.

Since then the 3,000 people made homeless by the floods have been camped in four primary schools in Jalingo, the state capital.

“The plight of the flood victims is pathetic,” Manjo Martin, the Nigerian Red Cross disaster response coordinator, told reporters. “I appeal to the government and others to come to their aid by providing food, medicine and bedding to reduce their suffering."

Hamza Faruk, head of the state's emergency relief committee, said the government had begun providing food, clothing and medical supplies to the flood victims.

But many of the displaced have complained of poor conditions in the impromptu camps.

“There are insufficient toilets and only 10 mattresses and three mats were given to more than 200 people. Women spread their wrap-arounds on the bare floor to sleep,” said Buhari Adamu, who is camped out at the Lamure Primary School.

Faiza Sule, a mother of twins, complained that the food rations were inadequate for the children and that there was a lack of drugs needed to treat the many cases of malaria and diarrhoea in the camp.

August and September are generally the wettest months in parts of northern and central Nigeria, with villages and towns on the banks of major rivers most at risk of flash floods.

[ENDS]