Lomé, August 6, 2008
Togo has seen really heavy rains in the last couple of days. During the rainy season, floods are a yearly ritual in Togo but this year they’ve come sooner than expected. Some of the inhabitants of Lomé consider the floods to be the result of water melting from the polar ice caps in Canada which has found its way here through the oceans and the rivers; others perceive it as a sign that the apocalypse is coming soon.
Dozens of villages are flooded and the main bridge that connects the north and the south of the country fell down a few days ago. Farmers have lost their crops and there is a general fear as the effects of higher international fuel prices are already causing price increases in the costs of basic products such as corn, bread and rice. For a population that lives with less than a dollar per day, the combination of the two phenomena could have devastating effects.
Last weekend, I visited flooded neighbourhoods in the outskirts of Lomé with my colleagues from the Togolese Red Cross. The situation here has obliged people to leave their homes and take refuge elsewhere. It is striking to see entire families making their way through the water trying to save their goods and properties.
People affected by the inundations find it hard to believe that this year’s floods might hit them as hard as they did last year; the country hasn’t yet had time to recover from the human and material losses it faced in 2007. Fortunately, they are not alone. Local and international humanitarian organizations working in Togo are mobilizing to support the people affected by the floods.
Dozens of villages are flooded and the main bridge that connects the north and the south of the country fell down a few days ago. Farmers have lost their crops and there is a general fear as the effects of higher international fuel prices are already causing price increases in the costs of basic products such as corn, bread and rice. For a population that lives with less than a dollar per day, the combination of the two phenomena could have devastating effects.
Last weekend, I visited flooded neighbourhoods in the outskirts of Lomé with my colleagues from the Togolese Red Cross. The situation here has obliged people to leave their homes and take refuge elsewhere. It is striking to see entire families making their way through the water trying to save their goods and properties.
People affected by the inundations find it hard to believe that this year’s floods might hit them as hard as they did last year; the country hasn’t yet had time to recover from the human and material losses it faced in 2007. Fortunately, they are not alone. Local and international humanitarian organizations working in Togo are mobilizing to support the people affected by the floods.
posted by KB at 11:10 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home