Dozens killed across flood-hit East Africa | DW News

to East Africa now where weeks of monsoon rains have been wreaking havoc across much of the region Tanzania is reporting at least 150 dead from floods and landslides the government in Kenya says the extreme weather there has now K killed at least 70 people since March severe flooding has forced thousands from their homes as well DW correspondent Felix MinGa reports now from Nairobi this is the aftermath of heavy rain that have continued to pound Nairobi the past few days Joseph aako tries to save what is left after the devastating floods that hit this area she lost all her belongings the river nearby broke its banks leaving everyone to rush for safety I saw death with my own eyes a neighbor of mine was saved and rushed to the hospital I don't even want to see the rain because when my son sees the rain he keeps telling me we need to flee and go to the countryside because we almost died the floods have left residents vulnerable the government has asked people to move to High Ground to avoid a repeat of what has taken place but many like Joseph are short of options I don't have any place to go here in Nairobi if God could save me at least I would have a place to go to so far dozens of people have been reported dead across the country they displaced victims are being sheltered in schools and churches many victims are still in shock we've lost everything and didn't save anything children's books their clothes mates there is nothing we could save all that is left are the clothes on our backs people have lost houses people have lost all belongings people have lost clothes we are in dire need of medication clothing and shelter we cannot stay in this school forever since school's open next week if we get Provisions like blankets mattresses and money to start over again we'll be good so it started to rain again and many residents do not even want to hear the sound of rain they're saying that instead of the rain being a blessing to them this one has come with such huge losses um some of them do not even have anything else remaining those ones who've been taken to temporal shelters feel that even in those shelters they're not safe at all the victim now want the government to act fast the government should intervene faster and get us out of the shelter since our lives are all at risk some even have 2-year-old kids there other kids are weeks old we're not safe at all our kids could get infected with pneumonia and other diseases according to weather forecast the rains are set to continue into the month of May the victims hope the downpour end so that they can get on with their lives we can cross now to Nairobi and speak with Kenyan social rights activist Wilfred Happy Ol thank you so much for joining us as I understand you're working directly with many people affected by the flood some of whom we seen in the report could you tell us exactly what they're going through what are you seeing yeah thanks a lot for having me it's been very devastating uh especially areas of madare and informal slam settlements we were working there we are volunteering to assist there and what we can say is that the situation is still very bad there are still people who are missing we even lost uh some activist and two activist are part of the people who are who who lost their lives the situation is is still very very bad and people still don't have where to go uh people are most people are stranded still and uh a lot of bodies are still yet to to be recovered so I can say the sttion is there you're saying a lot of people are stranded so so what's being done to help them if I understand what you're saying not enough yes it's not enough uh the government uh has has focused on more middle class areas that that were also affected but the more informal settlements and slam areas there there's very little effort apart from what the Red Cross has been trying to do and you can see they are also overwhelmed so that's why the activist also we organized ourselves and community members to move in and assist where we can and as activists alone we've been the last two days we are able to retrieve five bodies in the rivers along Madar I want to ask you about the different factors that could have exacerbated this crisis and one of them might be planning has the planning of urban areas in Kenya exacerbated what we're seeing now yeah you know like 70% of Kenyans live in slams and informal settlements because they cannot afford the more more planned areas more middle class areas which are properly planned with the drainage and all that so the only houses they can afford are the the ones in slams because they are cheaper and the the economic situation of the country is not very good so that's why all our slums Nairobi has around 116 slums all of them don't have any plan do you think that's why most most people have been affected continue go I just wanted to ask you is this scenario then given what you're saying likely to continue into the future and happen [Music] again it's it it can't happen it can't continue this way because even right now the government is telling people to move to Higher Grounds they have not provided any assistance apart from volunteers and Red Cross uh St John's and other people are assisting the assistance from the government is you know just coming and giving people a few food stuffs yet people need to get uh places where they can live the RS are still on so we are fearing most people are in primary schools which are being opened next week so they'll have to move out of the schools the RS are still on they don't have Alternatives so the government is doing very little at the moment very very very little and we have very very worried that we might have more uh more cases if they don't the government doesn't act now willford happy all social rights activists in Nairobi we really thank you so much for your time take care thank you

Channel: DW News

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Length: 7min 25sec (445 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 27 2024