Sudan Faces Many Threats as Water Levels Rise, Challenging the Well-Being of Many Neighborhoods
Coming out of one of the world’s biggest revolutions, the people of Sudan are not only facing the ongoing pandemic, but also persistent rainfall and flooding.
Shortly after successfully toppling its long-standing dictator Omar al-Bashir, Sudan faces one of the worst floods in its history while dealing with the ongoing pandemic.
The flooding, which is caused by a combination of the rising levels of the Nile river and poor infrastructure and drainage systems, has killed nearly a hundred people and displaced thousands of others. Many Sudanese homes, farms and businesses have been destroyed, leaving families homeless, without income or food. Despite the alarming rate of floods, there is a lack of government support and funding for the communities affected. Due to the shortage of medical supplies and health centers, families are concerned about their medical needs being met during these times.
More than a hundred thousand homes in Southern Khartoum have been destroyed by the heavy rainfall and flooding, which started around July of this year. Sudan’s UN office reported heavy damages in eight of the 16 states affected. In the first week of September alone, more than a hundred thousand people have been affected by the floods. With hundreds of people currently displaced, the government recently declared a three-month state of emergency and designated Sudan to be a natural disaster zone. The nation faces new obstacles as schools are preparing to re-open, with many displaced children at a higher risk of infection and school campuses — the few that weren’t destroyed — being used as shelter grounds. The flooding has increased the risk of an outbreak and poses a challenge when it comes to containing the amount of COVID-19 infections.
Nafeer, a youth-led volunteer group, has responded to many calls for help from neighborhoods, aiding in food, medical supplies, shelters, etc. One volunteer, Maram Suilman, shares her experience working with the affected neighborhoods in Sudan and helping evacuate people out of the flooded areas.
“There are many houses in one area,” Suilman said in an interview with Local. “Once there’s flooding the whole neighborhood is destroyed — it’s never just one family that is affected. The reports that we get come from neighborhoods that have been affected by the floods. Sometimes it’s one wall in a house that’s damaged, sometimes the whole house is destroyed. For shelters, we usually build tents for people that are far from the affected areas and they usually have a common kitchen.”
In response to concerns about COVID-19 precautions, Suilman explained how the people affected by the floods are desperately trying to finding shelter, drawing their attention away from the pandemic. “No one here really has the time to think about the Coronavirus,” she said.
When asked about the re-opening of schools and how certain communities are utilizing school campuses as shelters, Suilman responded, “It depends on the area. There’s people staying in schools and then there’s people in tents. We don’t really know when people can return to their homes, and school grounds have bathrooms, electricity, and a lot of space. It looks like schools won’t open until 2021.”
Almooaid Murtada Elemam, a farm owner in Khartoum, lost his land due to the flooding.
“My farm has been affected on a huge scale,” Elemam said. “I have a chicken business on my farm and it’s going to cost me a lot of money, around ninety thousand dollars, to recover my farm. I had to cut off my electricity, my place is literally about to collapse, it’s cracking down every day.”
He also expressed concern about the spread of malaria caused by flooding: “The water cut off the roads. It brought lots of insects so we have higher cases of malaria. My dad is sick with malaria.”
According to Elemam, locals are troubled about the government’s lack of response, with many neighborhoods going without any electricity for more than two weeks.
Without aid and government intervention, Sudan will see many more preventable casualties caused by both the unrelenting floods as well as the deadly COVID-19.
“Literally the only support we have is from charities and donations, not the government. They don’t even have the funding to support us,” Elemam said.
“I haven’t seen something this bad since the revolution.”
