South Sudan: Warrap State - First Humanitarian Interventions As Floods Ravage Five Other States
8 September 2013
Link to web article here.
Juba — The national government in Juba has quickly responded for humanitarian intervention in the state of Warrap and dispatched dozens of medical doctors from Juba to the state to help treat the victims of the devastating floods in the area.
Tons of kits for humanitarian intervention were flown into Warrap state by air from Juba on Saturday while the medical team left the capital for the state on Sunday.
Six states in South Sudan: Jonglei, Upper Nile, Lakes, Warrap, Unity and Northern Bahr el Ghazal were the worst hit by the flooding this year as a result of consistent heavy down fall of rains for the last one month.
Tens of thousands of households across the country are already displaced as their homes were submerged by the floods, resulting into wide spread water borne diseases, lack of food and shelter as well.
The Council of Ministers last week chaired by President Salva Kiir Mayardit passed a resolution which constituted a taskforce headed by the cabinet affairs minister, Martin Elia Lomoru, to assess the level of the threat in the country and plan for emergency interventions in the states affected.
Lomoro and a number of ministers in the taskforce including the minister of health, Riek Gai Kok and minister for gender and social welfare, Awut Deng Acuil, visited Warrap state last week to assess the damage done to the state populations.
Subsequently, following their report, the cabinet on Friday approved 7million SSP to assist the states affected. The chair and some members of the taskforce were seen on the state-run SSTV on Saturday and Sunday seeing off the humanitarian materials and doctors to Warrap state.
While some other states are said to be the worst affected by the floods than Warrap state and were the first to alert the government on the looming humanitarian crisis, critics questioned the government's rationale to give the priority attention to Warrap state, which is home of the president, and less attention to the other states.
"I don't understand the reason why only the situation of the people of Warrap state is the one displayed on SSTV, and now the first humanitarian assistance goes there. While a state like Jonglei where I come from has been badly devastated for a long time by the floods including the capital, Bor", William Dau, a trader in Juba, lamented.
It was not clear when the government will also intervene in the other five states some of which are worst off, according to reports coming from the local authorities and non-governmental organizations on the ground.
Juba — The national government in Juba has quickly responded for humanitarian intervention in the state of Warrap and dispatched dozens of medical doctors from Juba to the state to help treat the victims of the devastating floods in the area.
Tons of kits for humanitarian intervention were flown into Warrap state by air from Juba on Saturday while the medical team left the capital for the state on Sunday.
Six states in South Sudan: Jonglei, Upper Nile, Lakes, Warrap, Unity and Northern Bahr el Ghazal were the worst hit by the flooding this year as a result of consistent heavy down fall of rains for the last one month.
Tens of thousands of households across the country are already displaced as their homes were submerged by the floods, resulting into wide spread water borne diseases, lack of food and shelter as well.
The Council of Ministers last week chaired by President Salva Kiir Mayardit passed a resolution which constituted a taskforce headed by the cabinet affairs minister, Martin Elia Lomoru, to assess the level of the threat in the country and plan for emergency interventions in the states affected.
Lomoro and a number of ministers in the taskforce including the minister of health, Riek Gai Kok and minister for gender and social welfare, Awut Deng Acuil, visited Warrap state last week to assess the damage done to the state populations.
Subsequently, following their report, the cabinet on Friday approved 7million SSP to assist the states affected. The chair and some members of the taskforce were seen on the state-run SSTV on Saturday and Sunday seeing off the humanitarian materials and doctors to Warrap state.
While some other states are said to be the worst affected by the floods than Warrap state and were the first to alert the government on the looming humanitarian crisis, critics questioned the government's rationale to give the priority attention to Warrap state, which is home of the president, and less attention to the other states.
"I don't understand the reason why only the situation of the people of Warrap state is the one displayed on SSTV, and now the first humanitarian assistance goes there. While a state like Jonglei where I come from has been badly devastated for a long time by the floods including the capital, Bor", William Dau, a trader in Juba, lamented.
It was not clear when the government will also intervene in the other five states some of which are worst off, according to reports coming from the local authorities and non-governmental organizations on the ground.