Red Cross Calls for Financial Aid to Support Victims of Land Landslides in Ethiopia
Victims of Landslides in Ethiopia, July 2024 Photo: @IFRCAfrica
August 2, 2024 Hour: 6:52 pm
The organization launched the petition after at least 257 people died in the landslides that occurred in the remote district of Gofa,
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) Friday, he made an emergency appeal to the international community to raise more than six million euros to respond to floods and landslides caused by the heavy rains in southern Ethiopia.
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The organization launched the petition after at least 257 people died in the landslides that occurred in the remote district of Gofa, in the Southern region of Ethiopia and about 470 kilometers from the capital, Addis Ababa.
“The trail of devastation left by landslides, floods and storms is overwhelming and has affected thousands of people,” said Mohammed Omer Mukhier in a statement, The regional director for Africa of the IFRC, who put the number of confirmed deaths in the above-mentioned tragedy at 236.
“Our teams are working tirelessly, but the magnitude of this crisis means that we urgently need more support to reach all those who need it,” he added.
It should be noted that a second landslide occurred during the rescue operations, although the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) spoke in a report of “three successive slips”.
The death toll is expected to rise to 500, OCHA said, detailing that according to data provided by local authorities, more than 15,000 people were affected by the disaster.
Among those residents living in the immediate vicinity of the events are 1,320 children under five and nearly 5,300 pregnant and lactating women, according to the UN.
“More than 5,600 people need to be evacuated urgently to safer areas due to the constant threat of further landslides, aggravated by incessant rains.”warned the Red Cross.
The NGO is leading rescue and search operations and providing supplies and services to those affected, such as “food, water, hygiene, sanitation and emergency shelter kits,” among others.
“The inclement terrain and incessant rains have made it difficult to use heavy machinery, complicating rescue efforts. This means using basic tools to search for missing persons, forcing rescuers to dig in the mud with hands, shovels and axes”Getachew Ta’a, the secretary general of the Ethiopian Red Cross, told us.
Autor: OSG
Fuente: DW-Africanews-EFE
