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Some 909,000 people have been affected by flooding in South Sudan, the UN emergency response agency said on Tuesday, doubling estimates published last month. Torrential rains are also washing away crops and destroying homes in the African nation.
The youngest country in the world is reeling after four consecutive years of floods, which are already affecting nine of its ten states, according to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in a briefing note on Tuesday, October 11.
“According to reports, the floods have affected livestock and crops, washed out roads and bridges, destroyed homes, schools and health facilities. They have also submerged wells and latrines, thus contaminating water sources, so there is the risk of outbreaks of waterborne diseases,” OCHA stated.
Destroyed bridges and dams
In Unity State, one of the worst affected regions, rising waters broke dams in two places on Sunday, threatening to flood camps for internally displaced persons as well as a United Nations Mission base.
“Efforts are being made throughout the day to repair the necessary areas and monitor vulnerable areas before further ruptures occur,” OCHA said.
On the western side of Bahr el Ghazal state, heavy rains caused a key bridge to collapse, disrupting the delivery of crucial aid to already affected populations.
In its previous update, published last month, the UN agency had calculated that around 386,000 people were affected by the floods, in seven states.
One of the poorest countries on the planet
The leaders of South Sudan, one of the poorest countries on the planet despite its vast oil reserves, have faced harsh criticism from the UN for failing their people and fueling violence.
Indeed, four out of five of its 11 million inhabitants live in “absolute poverty”, according to World Bank figures for 2018, and almost two-thirds of its population suffer from severe hunger.
Since gaining independence from Sudan in 2011, the young nation has been mired in chronic economic and political crisis, struggling to recover from the aftermath of a five-year civil war that left nearly 400,000 dead.
Although the 2018 ceasefire and power-sharing agreement between President Salva Kiir and his deputy, Riek Machar, is largely upheld, little progress has been made in fulfilling its conditions.
with AFP
