IRIN
NIGER: Flood victims continue crowding into city schools
29 August 2008


ZINDER, 29 August 2008 (IRIN) - Weeks after floods ripped through 
Tillaberi, 120 kilometres west of Niamey, and Niger's second-largest 
city Zinder, 900 kilometres east of Niamey, thousands of people are 
still homeless.

According to the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 
(OCHA), storms starting on 17 July and on 8 August have affected more 
than 40,000 people and destroyed about 400 agricultural fields and 
hundreds of homes.

At the Zengou Primary II School in Zinder, IRIN counted 2,573 people 
squatting in classrooms in two buildings on 20 August.

One of those victims, Absatou Malamilya, said even with the food she has 
received, conditions are not easy. "It has been 35 days that I have been 
eating manioc flour mixed with herbs. We are not sure how much longer we 
can stay here. But everything I have was washed away."

Hawa Adam said she and her 15 children came to the school after their 
home collapsed. "Yes, we normally get rain, but nothing like this year. 
But I cannot move. My husband is deceased and I cannot abandon his soul 
in our current home. Anyhow, I know the rains will just find us again."

Adam said a community leader distributed to her two straw mats, a 
blanket, three mosquito nets, four empty four-litre water bottles, 5 
bars of soap, one sack of rice, and one sack of flour.

World Food Programme (WFP) representatives say they have distributed 140 
tons of food to 16,000 flood victims in Zinder, and expect to distribute 
12 more tons. These persons are ones who did not evacuate their homes.

Lansani Nassarou, director of the Zinder government committee in charge 
of distributions to flood victims pushed out of their homes, said people 
are still signing up to receive help.

OCHA estimates that Tillaberi flood victims will need more than 1,000 
tons of food and more than US $36,000 to rebuild their homes.

WFP has indicated food distributions will began soon to 3,200 persons in 
Tillaberi.

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