CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC: US $660,689 needed monthly for flood victims, Red Cross says

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

BANGUI, 16 Aug 2005 (IRIN) - The Central African Republic Red Cross Society needs the local equivalent of at least US $660,689 per month to care for some 9,000 flood victims in the nation's capital, Bangui, national Red Cross Coordinator Alphonse Zarambaud said on Tuesday.

These are the victims of torrential rains that drenched the Bangui neighbourhoods of Sapeke, Bruxelles, Kangala and Petevo, along the southern banks of the Ubangui River on 7 August, initially affecting some 6,500 residents. The Red Cross later revised that figure upward. At first, the Red Cross said many of the victims had sought shelter with families or friends in unaffected areas nearby.

However, as the rains subsided some resident started to return to their flooded homes but Zarambaud said it was raining again and people still needed help.

"A two-month old baby died when a wall collapsed on her in the northern part of the city," he said, adding that mud brick homes in that part of the city were also threatened with collapse.

The head of the French Red Cross delegation in the CAR, Stéphane Lobjois, told IRIN: "We will support the national Red Cross in helping the population in distress. It will be material aid; food and non-food items."

Meanwhile, the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Loukas Petridis, said his organisation was not directly involved with the situation in Bangui but would, in this case, "help the national Red Cross in responding to the victims' needs". He said a delegation from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies was expected in Bangui on Wednesday to assess the situation.

Meanwhile, humanitarian agencies in Bangui formed a committee on Tuesday to see what help they could provide, the coordinator of Medecins Sans Frontieres in the CAR, Xavier Pérez Morelia, said.

On Tuesday, US Ambassador James Panos visited Linguissa, one of the flooded areas in the south side of the city, where in water was up to about one metre high in some parts.

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