By Nina Mitch
More than 45 deaths have been reported following heavy rains in eastern part of DR Congo, Uvira town. The town borders Bujumbura, capital city of Burundi.
The pounding rains have caused flooding and overflow of the Mulongwe and Kamvinvira rivers. The loss of lives and damage to property has been significant.
More than 3,500 houses have been destroyed by the floods, 77,790 people are affected and 5,500 households are affected by this tragedy, according to local authorities.
The mayor of the town fears that the material damage will increase if certain works are not carried out as a matter of urgency, particularly upstream, where the Mulongwe River has burst its banks.
Since 18th April, several households have started to move with the rest of the property saved after the flood. But many of them do not have host families.
According to the Deputy Mayor of Uvira Town, Mayor Kapenda Kifara, the crisis committee has set up seven sites to house these households who do not have host families, including two sites in Kavimvira, four sites in Kasenga and one site in Kimanga.
The United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the DR Congo – MONUSCO, which is working with the crisis committee on this disaster, emphasizes that the priority is not to prevent water from flowing, but would like the inhabitants who have built-in dangerous areas to evacuate the affected sites for the emergency work of engineers from the road office and MONUSCO.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) handed over a donation of more than 5 tonnes of non-living items to the urban authorities of Uvira in South Kivu in April.
The tonnes of non-living items handed over to the deputy mayor of the city of Uvira consist of tarpaulins, synthetic mats, kitchen kits and utensils, plastic buckets, and mosquito nets.
Messages of solidarity are constantly multiplying, and the Nobel Prize winner Dr. Denis Mulwege shared his great sadness.
“In these days of uncertainty, when all our eyes were rather set on the fight against coronavirus in our province, the city of Uvira has just been hit by terrible floods. It is with great sadness that I follow the tragic images. The toll is heavy: deaths, injuries, missing persons, damaged houses and property,” says Dr. Mulwege.
Mr. Katumbi thus called on the State to take advantage of the foreign debt relief owed to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in order to help the thousands of people affected by the floods throughout the country.
“We are asking the government to help all the disaster victims because the foreign debt of the country has been relieved,” he said.
Adding “This money should help to develop the country, and the government must be close to the population to put an end to the various tragedies,” said Moïse Katumbi.
According to him, this tragedy is due to climate change, which is caused by deforestation.
