The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank (ADB) has approved a grant of $500,000 to help finance humanitarian relief assistance to people affected by floods during summer 2003 in Sudan.
The funds will help to control outbreaks of malaria, cholera and other communicable diseases among flood victims. The grant will finance the provision of kits to prevent cholera and water-borne diseases, drugs and supplies, spraying equipment and chemicals for environmental sanitation.
The unexpected heavy rains that hit the state of Kassala in July August caused the largest flood ever known by the Al-Gash River. Out of a population of 300,000 people, 210,000 Kassala City residents or 70 percent were affected and 10,000 houses were damaged.
According to government records, approximately 35,000 people have been displaced and housed in temporary accommodations. Some 34 health facilities were either partially or totally destroyed. Kassala Hospital had been declared totally non-functional. The region’s main drinking water plants were out of service during the first four days of the flood and nineteen wells were also destroyed.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the total cost of reparations is estimated at $ 1.067 million, of which 47 percent is being covered by ADB. The new funding is the bank’s second grant released to Sudan. — (menareport.com)
© 2003 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
