Kenya Red Cross has appealed for aid as it tackles the current flooding crisis that has rocked different parts of the nation. Addressing the press in Nairobi, KRCS Secretary General Abbas Gullet said the state should declare the situation a national disaster, saying the threshold may be too big for governments to cope individually, “People have been badly affected and Counties cannot cope by themselves, the central government may not have the sufficient resources,” he said, adding that if all development partners join hands then the situation can be handled better.
He said so far 48,177 households have been displaced countrywide as a result of the floods, equating to 260,200 people displaced. 112 people have lost their lives while around 21,000 acres of land have been destroyed. The affected Counties are 32, while the priority Counties are 21 including Turkana, Tana River, Nakuru, Homa Bay, Mandera, Busia among others.
Gullet said lessons have to be learnt following the ongoing floods, which have left many people displaced in the past few months. He said mega dams must be set up to help in water harvesting during torrential rains, noting that the cycle of floods and droughts will be avoided as a result. “The cyclical round of droughts and floods is getting shorter. I can tell you that in three months we’ll say we have no water to drink and we haven’t harvested this water. The same communities affected by the floods will also be affected by a shortage of food,” he said.