The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
Nigeria: Hundreds of thousands in need of aid as flooding wipes out homes – WFP
In northeast Nigeria, UN humanitarians are rushing to assist scores of newly displaced people after torrential rains caused a dam to collapse and flood the area, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said on Friday.
Alau Dam, located just over 10 miles to the south of Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State, collapsed in the middle of the night on Tuesday, forcing hundreds of thousands from their homes.
Emmanuel Bigenimana, the head of WFP’s office in Maiduguri, said that he managed to fly over the city with UN humanitarian air service (UNHAS) helicopter, dispatched by WFP to conduct a rapid assessment of damage and needs.
“What I have seen is really heartbreaking,” he said, describing homes, infrastructure, roads, schools, hospitals submerged by water.
“Many, many people - I'm talking about over 200,000 - 300,000 displaced people - are overcrowded in several IDP (internally displaced persons) camps and also on the streets.”
WFP reported that the dam collapse forced the river water to overrun 50 per cent of Maiduguri and the State Government issued evacuation orders to residents in the affected areas, while appealing for humanitarian support.
Speaking from the centre of one of the IDP camps, Mr. Bigenimana said that WFP has managed to open soup kitchens to provide hot meals to the affected people and was scaling up its response together with the authorities and partners.
The soup kitchens located in three camps - Teachers’ Village, Asheikh and Yerwa - aim to provide nutritious hot meals to “50,000 of the worst affected children, women, and men who have lost their homes,” WFP said, but more assistance is needed.
“This is really an additional burden to already existing crises,” WFP’s Mr. Bigenimana stressed. “This region has been facing conflict for a decade.”
Borno State was one of the areas worst-affected by the Boko Haram insurgency which, the UN said earlier this year, has been controlled to some extent.
“More recently, we have seen food inflation, food prices have been skyrocketing, really affecting millions of people who are facing food insecurity,” Mr. Bigenimana added.
The impacts of extreme weather are being felt severely across the country. Some 800,000 people in 29 states in Nigeria have been affected by floods as of September 2024, WFP said, and over 550,000 hectares of cropland have been flooded. As of March 2024 some 32 million people in the country were already facing acute hunger.
The UN’s food agency said that it needs $147.9 million to support food insecure people in Nigeria’s northeast over the coming six months.
For the flood-affected populations in Maiduguri, “recovery will take long,” Mr. Bigenimana said. “We need more resources to save lives and to put together efforts to respond to the crises - and also think of longer-term recovery and solutions.”
-Ends -
Story: Nigeria Floods WFP – 13 September 2024
TRT: 03’05”
SOURCE: WFP/UNTV CH
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 13 September 2024 - Maiduguri, Nigeria
SHOTLIST
- Drone shot of the devastation and floods in Maiduguri, Nigeria. Date: 12/09/2024.
- SOUNDBITE (English) Emmanuel Bigenimana, Head of Maiduguri area office, UN World Food Programme (WFP): “Alau Dam located at a few miles from this town collapsed in the middle of the night and it has caused massive flooding in this town.”
- Drone shot of the devastation and floods in Maiduguri, Nigeria. Date: 12/09/2024.
- SOUNDBITE (English) Emmanuel Bigenimana, Head of Maiduguri area office, UN World Food Programme (WFP): “Yesterday I managed to fly over the town with a WFP helicopter and what I have seen is really heartbreaking. So I have seen several homes, infrastructure, roads, schools, hospitals submerged by water.”
- Medium shot of WFP team on the ground walking next to displaced people in Maiduguri, Nigeria.
- SOUNDBITE (English) Emmanuel Bigenimana, Head of Maiduguri area office, UN World Food Programme (WFP): “Many, many people - I'm talking about over 200,000 - 300,000 displaced people who are overcrowded in several IDP camps and also on the streets. So WFP managed to open soup kitchens to provide hot meals to the affected people and we are scaling up together with our partners, complementing the WFP and also the Government response.”
- Medium shot of WFP team on the ground in Maiduguri, Nigeria.
- SOUNDBITE (English) Emmanuel Bigenimana, Head of Maiduguri area office, UN World Food Programme (WFP): “This is really an additional burden to already existing crises. This region has been facing conflict for a decade. And more recently, we have seen food inflation, food prices have been skyrocketing, really affecting millions of people who are facing food insecurity.”
- Medium shot of WFP team on the ground talking with the displaced in Maiduguri, Nigeria.in Maiduguri, Nigeria.
- SOUNDBITE (English) Emmanuel Bigenimana, Head of Maiduguri area office, UN World Food Programme (WFP): “Recovery will take long. And also, we need more resources to save lives and to put together efforts to respond to the crises and also think of longer-term recovery and solutions.”
- Medium shot of WFP team on the ground talking with the displaced in Maiduguri, Nigeria.
- Wide shot of WFP team on the ground talking with the displaced in Maiduguri, Nigeria.
- Close up shot of the sign to the Intersos stabilization center.
- Drone shot of the devastation and floods in Maiduguri, Nigeria.
- WFP team near a helicopter.
- Shot from the helicopter showing the floods in Maiduguri, Nigeria.
- Arial shot showing the floods and damage in Maiduguri, Nigeria.
- Medium shot of the WFP team unloading emergency aid from the helicopter.
- Medium shot of the WFP team holding boxes of emergency aid.
- Medium shot of the WFP team unloading emergency aid from the helicopter.
- Wide shot of the WFP team unloading emergency aid from the helicopter.
Similar Stories
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO , UNICEF , UNRWA
Israel’s aid plan will force Gaza families to choose ‘between displacement and death’ – UN humanitarians
Israel’s plan to take control of relief assistance in Gaza risks increasing the suffering of families already exhausted by 18 months of war by putting their lives in danger and inciting more displacement, using aid as “bait”, UN humanitarians said on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , WHO
UN Humanitarians reject Israeli plan to take over aid delivery
The reported Israeli proposal to deliver humanitarian supplies through hubs controlled by the military would be a breach of the core principles of neutral, impartial and independent aid delivery, the UN aid coordination office, OCHA, said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News , B-roll | OCHA
Gaza: ‘Worst-case scenario’ unfolds as two-month aid blockade deepens suffering - OCHA
Two months into a devastating aid blockade of Gaza food has run out and people are fighting over water amid relentless bombing, the UN’s humanitarian affairs coordination office (OCHA) said on Friday.
/Includes OCHA footage from Gaza City/
1
1
1
Edited News | UNRWA
Children in Gaza are going to bed starving, says aid agency
The biggest UN aid agency in Gaza on Tuesday condemned the two-month Israeli blockade on Gaza that has left families sharing a single tin of food at mealtime and the sick and injured without lifesaving medical help, amid daily bombardment.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNHCR
Ongoing Russian attacks in Ukraine force frontline areas to empty: UNHCR
With Ukrainian cities still reeling from this week’s deadly Russian missile and drone attacks, communities on the front line continue to be targeted too, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said on Friday. “We also see attacks on frontline regions increasing and it's, as always, civilians that are bearing the highest cost of the war,” said Karolina Lindholm Billing, UNHCR Representative in Ukraine.
1
1
1
Edited News | WFP
Funding and supply shortfalls for the UN World Food Programme (WFP)'s work in Ethiopia will halt lifesaving treatment for 650,000 malnourished women and children at the end of the month. “We are at the breaking point,” it said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
Israeli military operations in Lebanon continue to kill and injure civilians, and destroy civilian infrastructure, raising concerns regarding the protection of civilians, the UN Human Rights Office warned today.
1
1
1
Edited News | IOM , UNWOMEN , UNDP
Sudan: Aid teams report massive displacement after latest Darfur atrocity; women’s bodies ‘turned into battlegrounds’
In Sudan’s North Darfur, tens of thousands of people have fled a displacement camp following the massacre of civilians and aid workers as the country enters the third year of a conflict marked by horrific levels of sexual violence, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | ITC
Global trade could shrink by three per cent as a result of the United States’ new tariff measures which in the longer term could reshape and boost as-yet untapped regional commercial links, a top UN economist confirmed on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
Warring parties in Sudan are overseeing a wholesale assault on human rights amid global inaction, the UN Human Rights Office said on Friday, as the conflict is about to enter its third year.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
The UN Human Rights Office on Friday said Israel’s increasing issuance of so-called “evacuation orders” for Palestinians in Gaza have resulted in their forcible transfer.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , OHCHR , UNHCR , UNWOMEN , WFP , WHO
Two years of war in Sudan have created epic suffering, aid agencies say
Two years since Sudan’s brutal conflict began, UN agencies warned that famine is spreading and civilians of all ages continue to suffer shocking abuse, including rape and gang rape.