13 November 2019•Update: 13 November 2019
ANKARA
Unusually heavy rains continue to fall in the Central African Republic, causing displacement of over 20,600 people, the UN migration agency said Wednesday.
Uprooting at least 20,691 in the capital Bangui over more than three weeks, the showers have left "significant material damage" in the poverty-wracked country, which has also been suffering from repeated armed violence since 2013, according to a report by the International Organization of Migration (IOM).
"The situation is very difficult here. The neighbors have sheltered us, but we lack everything, and we can't sleep as there are too many mosquitoes due to the stagnant water," Beatrice, mother of five, was quoted in saying in the report.
Her house, the report added, has been flooded for three weeks. She and her family had to flee to the neighboring Maya-Maya district, where they could be sheltered, although this area was also partially affected by the deluge.
"We have no income and arable fields are completely flooded. We are afraid for the coming weeks," she said.
The IOM has provided roughly 1,000 emergency shelters for displaced people, according to the report.
It highlighted efforts by the Central African Red Cross in overseeing site management planning, as well as the mobilization of UN agencies such as the refugee agency UNHCR, World Food Program, World Health Organization, UN Population Fund and UNICEF, noting that international aid groups also responded to the victims' health needs, providing water, hygiene, and sanitation.
"However, the needs remain very critical: several other areas of the country have suffered damage, the scale of which is gradually being determined," the IOM added.
