2.5m victims confirmed as FG raises panel on flooding

Of the over 38.8 million people affected by flooding in Nigeria, Pakistan, India, Chad and South Sudan, Save the Children International (SCI), yesterday, confirmed that the most populous black nation accounted for 2.5 million, with 1.25 million being children.

The breakdown further showed that about 1.3 million, including 400,000 million kids were affected in India, as 544,000 infants of Chad’s one million population witnessed the pain, while South Sudan’s 900,000 populace had 463,000 offspring suffering the natural disaster.

SCI’s Global Director, Child Poverty, Climate and Urban, Yolande Wright, said thousands of people were killed and millions displaced in the five nations.

She confirmed that water flowing above dangerous levels left a trail of destruction in each country, with homes submerged, crops destroyed and schools forced to close, thus jeopardising the education of thousands of kids.

THIS came as the Federal Government, yesterday, inaugurated a presidential committee for the development of a comprehensive plan of action to prevent the tragedy in Nigeria.

President Muhammadu Buhari charged the panel on diligence.

Represented by the Minister of Water Resources, Suleiman Adamu, the President gave the committee a reference of three-month to include: Assessing and reviewing existing plans and policies on the management of flood disasters in Nigeria; identifying and working with critical stakeholders on flood disaster management, as well as visiting selected strategic flood-affected and prone areas.

He said the setting was a two-tier institutional arrangement – a steering committee and a technical working group. The former is coordinated by the minister, while the latter is headed by the Director-General of the National Water Resource Institute, Prof. Emmanuel Adanu.

BESIDES, Nigerian Red Cross Society (NRCS) has launched an emergency appeal for 13 million Swiss Francs to support victims nationwide.

The Secretary-General, Abubakar Kende, at a press briefing, yesterday, in Abuja, confirmed that over 2.8 million people had been affected, with at least 612 lives lost and more than 2,500 people injured.

The organisation added that two million people have either fled or being evacuated from high-risk areas.