Patrick Jaramogi
26 August 2007
Kampala — A TOTAL of 300 households are facing starvation in Soroti district following the torrential rains that have rendered over 50,000 people homeless.
The LC5 chairman, Stephen Ochola, on Thursday said he was disappointed that the Government had not intervened in time.
"The Government has let the people of Soroti down. I wrote to the State Minister for Disaster Preparedness, Musa Ecweru, about the matter two months ago but he has not responded," Ochola told The New Vision during an interview at Ridar Hotel in Mukono.
Ochola said residents of Kamuda and Katine sub-counties would soon die of hunger because their crops were destroyed by the heavy rains.
"An epidemic like cholera will soon break out due to poor sanitation," he said.
Ecweru, however, said the Government had sent food, medicine and plastic sheetings to the affected areas.
"We are constrained with logistics. The Government lacks the money to handle such calamities. We appeal to humanitarian agencies to support us," he said at the Media Centre in Kampala.
According to the Uganda Red Cross Society and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the affected people represented 10,200 households in Kumi, Bukedea, Kapchorwa, Soroti, Bududa, Sironko, Amuria and Katakwi districts.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2007 New Vision. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
