KENYA: Floods kill one, displace thousands from refugee camp

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

NAIROBI, 3 May 2005 (IRIN) - A young boy was killed and an estimated 25,000 people displaced by torrential rains in Dadaab refugee camp in northeastern Kenya, aid agencies said on Tuesday.

"A four-year-old boy was killed and his three siblings rushed to hospital last Thursday when torrential rains hit the camp," Emmanuel Nyabera, spokesman for the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), told IRIN.

"About 5,000 families had their shelters and property destroyed and had to move to higher ground for safety," he added.

Dadaab refugee camp, composed of three separate camps, was opened in Kenya in 1991, following an influx of Somali refugees fleeing civil war in their country.

"The floods happened in Dadaab's Ifo camp, which houses about 53,000 refugees," Nyabera said. "Most of the displaced have gone to live with relatives in the area."

UNHCR, along with the UN World Food Programme (WFP), CARE International and German aid agency GTZ, had carried out assessments of the flood damage, Nyabera said.

"Based on our assessment," he said, "we have begun to provide non-food items such as blankets, tarpaulins and kitchen sets to 1,000 affected people."

Laura Melo, WFP spokesperson in Nairobi, told IRIN on Tuesday that the food warehouses at Ifo had been inundated with water. Aid workers had, however, managed to salvage much of the food by placing it on raised pallets.

The distribution of food and other aid, she said, had already been difficult due to the poor condition of the road from the district headquarters in Garissa to Dadaab. The flooding made the situation even worse.

"The road is practically impassable," Melo said. "We were unable to transport our usual food rations of cereals from Garissa to Ifo, and are now transporting some pulses by pick-up."

"We have had to reduce the amount of cereals we usually provide to the refugees from 370 grams per person per day to 257 grams per person per day," she added, noting that WFP had 290 mt of cereals stuck in Garissa.

Nyabera said UNHCR and GTZ were on standby in case of an outbreak of waterborne diseases, as is common in such situations.

Despite recent developments towards peace in Somalia, persistent civil unrest, recurrent drought and other natural disasters continue to prevent the more than 100,000 refugees in Dadaab from returning home.

[ENDS]