13,000 Darfuris made homeless by floods - Sudanese government gives blankets and corn

News from Reuters today says about 13,000 refugees have been made homeless by floods in Darfur, in the worst rains for half a century:

El-Fatih Abdel Aziz, the government's manager of Abou Shouk camp in North Darfur, told Reuters the heaviest rains seen in decades had damaged a dam built to prevent flooding in the camp next to the state's main town, el-Fasher.

"This dam... was damaged because of the heavy rain at night, and after that half of the camp was flooded. The government intervened and gave every family blankets and corn," he said.



Non-governmental organisations working in the camp were to meet to decide whether to transfer the 13,000 displaced to another camp. Abou Shouk, just outside el-Fasher, houses about 50,000 Darfuris.

About 2,000 families were also homeless in el-Fasher town. (Image SABC News)

UPDATE Aug 15 AP:

An official at the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs said some 2,284 families lost their makeshift shelters in Abu Shouk camp, according to a preliminary report. In El-Fasher, seven neighborhoods were leveled and 547 families left homeless, 12 schools destroyed and the central market heavily damaged, the official said.
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CARE International piping clean water to residents of Kalma

Click here to read about life in Kalma, Darfur's largest camp.

Tags: Sudan Darfur Africa rebels humanitarian aid aid worker UN rain flood Abou Shouk rebels NGO CARE Kalma Abu Shouk