First Red Cross Red Crescent aid flight arrives to assist Sudanese flood victims
11 August 2003

The first of four Red Cross Red Crescent aid flights to assist victims of severe floods in northeastern Sudan has arrived in Sudan’s Kassala state, said the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

The flight, which arrived this weekend, transported a mass sanitation unit and other basic relief articles to help 140,000 of the most badly affected flood victims in Kassala state, which has been the worst hit.

Torrential rains on 28 July caused a series of floods along Sudan’s River Gash, which have affected at least 200,000 people and killed at least 12, destroyed thousands of homes, damaged Kassala’s only hospital and the main water plant for the area as well as leaving key buildings and utilities under water. In addition, electricity supplies are still largely down.

"This mass sanitation unit from the German Red Cross comes right in time to enable us to prevent a cholera outbreak and diminish the incidence of malaria. Another couple of days and cholera could have become a real problem," said Robert Fraser, the International Federation's regional health coordinator in Kassala since the onset of the disaster.

With the city hospital and main water plant out of action, the health situation is alarming. Sudanese Red Crescent (SRCS) clinics report a five-fold increase in cases of acute diarrhoea and a rise in malaria from 19 per cent before the floods, to 41 per cent now. Stagnant water pools, a breeding ground for mosquitoes, are spread all over the town.

Many of Kassala's 350,000 inhabitants are living in precarious conditions with no shelter or access to drinking water or sanitation facilities in the aftermath of what is being described as the worst floods to have hit the area in the last 70 years. As a result, the Sudanese government has declared Kassala, which lies on the border with Eritrea, a disaster zone.

Two German Red Cross experts with the sanitation Emergency Response Unit (ERU) on this first flight will also assist 300 Sudanese Red Crescent volunteers to conduct spraying and environmental clean-up activities. In addition, latrine construction and a health awareness campaign will complete the ongoing efforts of the government to limit the spread of waterborne diseases. Most of the aid in this first Red Cross Red Crescent flight, valued at more than 220,000 euros (US$ 249,000), has been donated by the German government.

The distribution of water to the western part of the city, across the River Gash, remains difficult but a second German Red Cross cargo plane carrying a mass water purification unit, is expected to leave Cologne on 12 August and reach Kassala the next day.

In addition, two other humanitarian flights with shelter, relief and hygiene items from the International Federation's contingency stocks in Amman, Jordan, are also due to reach Kassala in the coming days.

The assistance will be needed as weather forecasts predict more rains over the Sudan and the Eritrean highlands, threatening communities living along the River Nile and its tributaries, particularly, the capital, Khartoum. Water levels are reported to have reached levels higher than in 1988 when Sudan experienced the worst floods in living memory.

To support the current relief activities of the Sudanese Red Crescent, the International Federation launched an appeal last week for 1.9 million Swiss francs (US$ 1.4 million) to help 140,000 flood victims for a period of three months.

For further information, or to set up interviews, please contact:

In Nairobi:
Andreï Neacsu, Regional Information Delegate - Tel: + 254 2 271 21 59 / Mobile: + 254 733 632 943
Pekka Reinikainen, Information Delegate - Tel: + 254 2 271 21 59 / Mobile: + 254 733 632 945

In Geneva:
Roy Probert, Information Officer - Tel. + 41 22 730 42 96 / + 41 79 217 33 86
Media Service Duty Phone - Tel. + 41 79 416 38 81

The Geneva-based International Federation promotes the humanitarian activities of 181 National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies among vulnerable people. By coordinating international disaster relief and encouraging development support, it seeks to prevent and alleviate human suffering. The Federation, National Societies and the International Committee of the Red Cross together, constitute the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.