The Sierra Leone Red Cross Society is still distributing essential goods to thousands of people affected by dramatic floods in mid August, when widespread flash floods in the south destroyed infrastructure and farmlands, and left thousands of people homeless.
During a visit on September 22, Red Cross President Dr M A S Jalloh visited several affected areas, including Gbondapi, where 59 family heads from the riverain village of Bandakoh were given plastic sheets, kitchen sets (consisting of two pots, five plates, five spoons and two knives), buckets, blankets, cups and soap.
Aie Mansaray, a sixty-year old housewife from Bandakoh, was all smiles after receiving her package.
“I will use the pot to cook whatever edibles I lay hands on, the mat to lie on and blanket as cover,” she said.
“We lost all our crops to the floods. So only God and humanitarian organisations like the Red Cross will help us survive next year,” said Aie Mansaray, before joining a dugout canoe with other beneficiaries returning to their home in Bandakoh, 8km by boat from the distribution site.
Dr Jalloh urged volunteers to continue their voluntary service to alleviate the suffering of the most vulnerable people of the district.
“The victims will need your assistance for a very long time, including psychological support especially suffering another loss after a ten-year war,” Dr Jalloh said. Sierra Leone is one of the world’s poorest and least developed countries.
The floods began during a three-day downpour that started on August 15. The disaster affected more than 120 villages and towns in the twelve chiefdoms that make up the Pujehun district, 330km from the capital, Freetown. High waters disrupted the transport link from the provincial headquarters of Bo to the district headquarter town of Pujehun and to other villages and towns in the district, cutting people off from help.
Many people moved by boat towards Bo and other safe areas. The increasing population movement in the six most affected chiefdoms of Sowa, Barri, Mano Sakrim, Kpanda Kabonde, Kpanda Krim and Gallines Perri signalled a humanitarian crisis that needed urgent intervention of humanitarian organisations including the Red Cross.
So the local branch of the Sierra Leone Red Cross Society mobilised volunteers and embarked on initial assessment in the affected areas. They found that most people’s food stocks had been destroyed, along with their homes and possessions. Volunteers registered about 5,000 people who needed emergency help. About 10,000 people have been affected by the disaster, with more than 500 houses destroyed or damaged.
Mr. Momodou Lamin Fye, Head of Delegation for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, together with Karen Hvid, Danish Red Cross capacity building and HIV/AIDS delegate, visited the district to assess the magnitude of destruction and the immediate needs of the affected population.
The International Federation launched an appeal for CHF 235,000 to help 7000 people for four months.
With the technical and financial support of the International Federation, the Sierra Leone Red Cross Society distributed non-food items to affected families. The International Committee of the Red Cross and the Spanish Red Cross provided technical and logistics support to the operation.
The Red Cross Movement coordinated its relief efforts with the government’s National Disaster Management Office and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. The World Health Organization is monitoring the situation to avoid an outbreak of cholera, which could spread with the flood waters. Together, agencies are addressing the problem of food insecurity.
So far, the Pujehun Red Cross branch has distributed non-food items, including plastic sheets, kitchen sets, buckets, blankets, cups and soap, to about 1400 people in ten villages. Branch staff and volunteers have been able to assess the conditions in about 20 communities that had been cut off.
Volunteers have also been giving first aid.
Red Cross volunteers led by the Secretary General of the Society, Arthur de-Winton Cummings braved the rough and off-road terrain to reach Swawo in the Gallines Perri chiefdom, where 85% of the houses were washed away by the floods.
In Jewoma village, chief Sulaiman Kpaka said people were very grateful for Red Cross help, but needed more assistance.
“However we are hungry as we lost everything during the floods and need food to cook in the pots that you have just distributed to us,” the chief said.