Henry Mukasa
10 September 2007
Kampala — THOUSANDS of former internally displaced people (IDPs) in Lango sub-region fled back to the camps over the weekend after their homes were destroyed by floods.
The worst affected areas in Lira are Otuke, Moroto and Erute North counties. Parts of Dokolo, Amolatar and Oyam districts, too, have been hit badly.
A total of 20 bridges have been swept away by the water, including Amonmaka Bridge which connects Lira to Kotido district, with fleeing people using dug-out canoes to cross the flooded roads.
In Teso, 25 IDP camps - a total of 15,000 people - need to be relocated to dry land or uphill areas as disaster preparedness minister Musa Ecweru warns of cholera and malaria outbreaks in the flooded camps. Bad roads are hampering the delivery of relief items to the affected areas in Teso. Sub-counties like Magoro and Ngariam have been cut off due to flooded roads.
Agriculture experts predict that the East and the North will face food shortages for the next six months as crops like cassava and groundnuts are rotting in the water-logged fields and sorghum did not mature.
"We are threatened with a serious disaster and I hope the Government and the international community do something to save the situation," lands minister Omara Atubo said.
Poor harvest and delayed rains have also caused severe food shortage in the Karamoja region, with half a million people facing starvation, according to the latest report of Unicef.
"The sub-region in 2007 has faced severe food insecurity crises due to a poor harvest last year and the late onset of rains, leading to more than half the population, 500,000 out of 900,000, reliant on external humanitarian assistance," the UN agency stated in its August humanitarian situational report.
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