The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
Heavy seasonal rains have caused severe flooding in Sudan leaving vast damage to people and infrastructure including access to clean water – critical in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic
Thousands of people, including internally displaced, refugees and host communities in Sudan have been affected by heavy rains which have triggered severed flooding and a rise of the river Nile up to nearly 17,5 metres, the highest level in 100 years according to Sudanese authorities.
“In Khartoum state alone, more than 21,000 people have been affected by the flooding and on Sunday, the Government declared a state of emergency in Khartoum. Across the country, as of 25 August, 380,000 people have been affected and 90 have been killed”, said Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) at a briefing today at the United Nations in Geneva.
According to OCHA, some 37,000 homes have been destroyed, forcing families to seek shelter with relatives and host communities. Another 39,000 houses have been damaged, along with 34 schools and nearly 2,700 health facilities.
Talking on behalf of the refugees, Shabia Mantoo, spokesperson for the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said that “an estimated 125,000 refugees and internally displaced people have been affected in total. This is particularly in East Sudan, White Nile, Darfur and Khartoum, and many are in urgent need of shelter and other emergency assistance”.
Ms. Mantoo added that “rains have been particularly heavy in North Darfur, leaving an estimated 35,000 IDPs, locals and refugees in need of help, and also 15 people have tragically died and a further 23 are missing”.
Many of those affected had been previously displaced by conflict and were already facing loss of income due to the economic challenges related to the Covid-19 pandemic. Access to clean water which is critical in the Covid-19 pandemic has also been affected. Around 2,000 water sources are contaminated or non-functional, according to initial assessments.
“Hygiene and sanitary levels have plummeted due to flooded latrines and contaminated water supplies, preventing people from exercising necessary COVID19 prevention measures such as regular handwashing. Some health facilities have been damaged, hampering their abilities to treat patients should transmission of COVID19 or other viruses and diseases increase”, said UNHCR’s Shabia Mantoo.
Homes and community buildings have been badly damaged and destroyed leaving many in desperate need of shelter. “The damage to infrastructure has been devastating. Roads have become too muddy for traffic to pass, making it extremely difficult or impossible to deliver humanitarian aid to some communities, particularly in Blue Nile where humanitarian agencies are unable to reach some 5,700 people needing humanitarian assistance”, Ms. Mantoo said.
Across the country, UN and humanitarian partners are supporting the national response with emergency shelter and household supplies, water, sanitation and hygiene assistance, food, and health services.
OCHA’s Jens Laerke said that “a quick response has been possible because the Government, UN agencies and our partners had pre-positioned supplies to respond to the needs of 250,000 people before the rain started. But these stocks are being depleted rapidly. We therefore call on more support from donors”.
- Exterior wide shot, Palais des Nations flag alley, nations’ flags flying
- Wide shot, Press briefing, Palais des Nations
- SOUNDBITE (English) — Jens Laerke, Jens Laerke, Spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA): “In Khartoum state alone, more than 21,000 people have been affected by the flooding and on Sunday, the Government declared a state of emergency in Khartoum. Across the country, as of 25 August, 380,000 people have been affected and 90 have been killed”.
- Medium shot, journalists
- SOUNDBITE (English) — Shabia Mantoo, Spokesperson for the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR): “An estimated 125,000 refugees and internally displaced people have been affected in total. This is particularly in East Sudan, White Nile, Darfur and Khartoum, and many are in urgent need of shelter and other emergency assistance. Rains have been particularly heavy in North Darfur, leaving an estimated 35,000 IDPs, locals and refugees in need of help, and also 15 people have tragically died and a further 23 are missing”.
- Wide shot, journalists in room with screen
- SOUNDBITE (English) — Shabia Mantoo, Spokesperson for the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR): “Hygiene and sanitary levels have plummeted due to flooded latrines and contaminated water supplies, preventing people from exercising necessary COVID19 prevention measures such as regular handwashing. Some health facilities have been damaged, hampering their abilities to treat patients should transmission of COVID19 or other viruses and diseases increase”.
- Wide shot, journalists in Press Room III, Palais des Nations.
- SOUNDBITE (English) — Shabia Mantoo, Spokesperson for the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR): “The damage to infrastructure has been devastating. Roads have become too muddy for traffic to pass, making it extremely difficult or impossible to deliver humanitarian aid to some communities, particularly in Blue Nile where humanitarian agencies are unable to reach some 5,700 people needing humanitarian assistance”.
- Close up, cameraman, Press Room III, Palais des Nations.
- SOUNDBITE (English) — Jens Laerke, Jens Laerke, Spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA): “A quick response has been possible because the Government, UN agencies and our partners had pre-positioned supplies to respond to the needs of 250,000 people before the rain started. But these stocks are being depleted rapidly. We therefore call on more support from donors”.
- Wide shot, journalists in Press Room III, Palais des Nations.
- Wide shot, podium in press Room III, Palais des Nations
- Close up, hands typing on laptop
Similar Stories
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
Gaza: Hospitals continue to overflow with people injured while seeking food - WHO
As besieged Palestinian civilians face widespread malnutrition and starvation, hospitals in the Strip are increasingly overwhelmed by the influx of victims of shootings and other injuries at food distribution areas, warns the World Health Organization.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNHCR , WHO , UNMAS
Urgent help is needed to halt a deadly cholera outbreak that is sweeping across Sudan, UN agencies said on Friday, while warning that communities continue to be terrorized by parties to the conflict even as they flee violence.
2
2
1
2
Press Conferences , Edited News , Images | UNEP
Negotiations got under way at UN Geneva on Tuesday to agree on a legally binding treaty to curb plastic pollution, with delegates from nearly 180 countries attending.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , UNICEF
Gaza: Hundreds of trucks per day of free aid needed “for months”, in addition to commercial supplies - OCHA
Despite the tactical pauses Israel introduced last week to allow some safe passage for humanitarian convoys, the amount of aid that has entered Gaza remains by far insufficient for the starving population, and UN trucks continue to face impediments on their way to delivering aid.
1
1
1
Edited News | UN WOMEN
Aid agencies echoed wider warnings of growing signs of widespread starvation in Gaza on Tuesday, as UN-partnered international food security experts released their most dire assessment yet of the situation in the wartorn enclave.
1
1
1
Edited News | IOM , UNDP , UNHCR
Sudan: urgent help needed as more than 1.3 million war-displaced people begin to return home
As conflict rages on across parts of Sudan, pockets of relative safety have emerged in the past four month, spurring more than one million internally displaced Sudanese to make their way home, says the International Organization for Migration (IOM). A further 320,000 cross-border refugees have come back to Sudan since last year, mainly from Egypt and South Sudan, to assess the current situation before deciding to return to their country for good.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNRWA , WHO
Gaza: SOS messages describe people fainting from hunger; UN health worker detained
Worrying alerts from United Nations staff in Gaza who have been fainting from hunger and exhaustion over the past 48 hours have increased fears for people’s survival in the devastated enclave, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNHCR , UNOG
Over 11.6 million refugees risk losing aid access due to funding cuts, says UNHCR
Approximately one in three refugees and other vulnerable individuals normally supported by the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) are expected to lose out from funding cuts, it said on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
Ravina Shamdasani, Spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, made the following announcement on the Office’s opening of a new mission in Bangladesh.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
“The surge in the number of Afghans forced or compelled to return to Afghanistan this year is creating a multi-layered human rights crisis requiring the urgent attention of the international community,” UN Human Rights spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani said on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk on Friday called for accountability and justice for the killings and other gross human rights violations and abuses in the southern city of Suweida.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNHCR
Syria: hundreds killed in Sweida, ‘widespread’ violations as civilians flee for their lives
Amid violent clashes in southern Syria’s Sweida governorate, a picture of grave human rights abuses and rising humanitarian needs is emerging by the hour, the UN said on Friday.