Over 3,000 Families in Tana Delta Displaced by Floods

By Joshua Mwabonje

Email, thecoastnewspaper@gmail.com

A major humanitarian crisis has hit Tarasaa and Tanadelta Subcounties in Tana River County after flooding of the areas leaving more than 3,127 families homeless, without food, and no access to healthcare.

Several villages have been marooned, some schools, and health facilities have all been submerged flooding for the past one month.

The eorst hit area is Tarasaa Subcounty where villages such as Samicha, Odhole, Mwanja, and Handaraku have been marooned completely disrupting daily economic activities.

In Tanadelta Subcounty, the scenario is the same as families are also forced to move from their homes after homes and farmers were swept away by the flood waters.

Learning activities and health services have also been disrupted as the facilities have been marooned forcing the locals to move to IDP Camps on safer grounds.

Journalists, accompanying the Kenya Red Cross (KRC) officials in a monitoring and evaluation exercise, came face-to-face with the effects of the disaster that has hit the areas.

Most of the areas cannot be accessed by road forcing KRC to use a boat to reach out to the marooned villages.

Samicha village which neighbours Odhole village is completely in accessible and locals moved to Marafa internally displaced people (IDP) camp with the ECD school completely shut down as there are no learners.

In Odhole, half of the residents moved to IDP camp with their families which affected over 85 percent of learners as they accompanied their parents to the safe zone and cannot go to school.

KRC society officials said they provided the locals with non-food items, but revealed that the victims are in dire need of food and health services.

Anthony Muchiri, the emergency preparedness and response manager at KRC led the disaster response team in monitoring the affected areas in Tanadelta and Tarasaa Subcounties.

According to him 3,127 families displaced by the floods disaster and are currently leaving in IDP camps.

Speaking in Odhole, he said 17 health facilities have been marooned and were not operational while several schools also had been marooned and children were unable to go to school.

“As Kenya Red Cross Society together with the county government and other agencies we have been able to support with emergency shelter materials to 2,700, the same number of families have also been targeted with wash materials and a number of IDP camps set up,” he said.

Muchiri said they set up 71 latrines in collaboration with the water department adding that they still continue monitoring the interventions since the floods first hit the area on April 17 this year.

Issa Komoro, chief of Konemasa Location in Tarasaa Subcounty, said Samicha village alone had 103 households, Odhole 300 households and Mwanja.

“The entire Samicha village is marooned, luckily the locals had been sensitized and moved to Marafa IDP camp which has over 500 households who are camping there as IDPs,” he said.

He appealed to the government and other humanitarian agencies to intervene and support the affected victims with relief food, as they lost everything in the floods.

Omar Maro Diwayu, the headman of Kijo farm IDP camp in Tanadelta, said there were 113 households displaced and were supported with non-food Items by KRC, but still had no food.

He said the floods destroyed all their crops that were about to mature leaving them with nothing for survival.

“The problem is you can sleep inside a shelter and feel good but if you have nothing to eat you will never get sleep because we lost everything as a result of floods,” he said.

Idi Jarso Wario, a flood Victim from Handaraku in Tarasaa Subcounty, said they were suffering because all access areas were flooded and they cannot access their homes and even grazing areas.

Madina Abdalla, a flood victim from Wario, said floods have displaced them and left them with no food, shelter and clean water.

“We have no food, we are hungry there is nothing at all ask the government to intervene and help us,” she said.

Sultan Hero, a flood Victim from Bula Rahma who is now camping with other IDPs at Kijo farm, said they have been assisted by Kenya Red Cross Society but still they have no food.