flooding

The influx of over half a million people fleeing Sudan’s conflict meant that transit centers in Renk – a border town in neighboring South Sudan- are swelling with people three times their capacity, with more than 300 people sharing one water tap. The lack of clean water and sanitation is increasing the risk of cholera, warned Oxfam today.  

Oxfam is mounting a humanitarian response to the catastrophic flooding in Pakistan working with a network of local partner organizations. Relief efforts will focus on two of the hardest-hit provinces of Balochistan and Sindh in the south-west of the country. The response will target 25,000 families and households affected by the floods.

Monsoon rains - the worst in 122 years- have inundated major rivers in northeastern Bangladesh and submerged thousands of houses, impacting 4.3 million people. The worst is yet to come as flooding worsens and access to impacted areas is hampered, warns Oxfam today.e

Almost half of the population of Timor-Leste’s capital has been impacted by severe flooding, according to government figures, after heavy rains fell on Dili and nearby provinces last week. Cyclone Seroja took the people of Timor-Leste by surprise, with the small nation previously not within the range of such extreme weather events. Oxfam in Timor-Leste’s Associate Country Director, Annie Sloman, said the impact of climate change was undeniable.

Heavy rains have swollen river basins in north Bangladesh, leading to severe flooding, submerging towns and destroying homes and crops in a region already suffering due to the coronavirus pandemic, Oxfam said today.

Oxfam warned today that millions of people in East and Central Africa, already suffering due to flooding and the impact of coronavirus, are at risk of increased hunger and poverty as the region braces for the latest generation of locusts which are due to hatch in June ―just when crops are to be harvested.

Areas hit by Cyclone Idai are “like a war zone” says Oxfam. The destruction and suffering are still not fully mapped. Despite initial appeals, international aid effort are still grossly underfunded, and aid agencies are already stretched and running out of resources.

The areas of Cagayan, Isabela, Kalinga and Apayao seem to be some of the worst hit regions at this point, with significant damage to shelter, infrastructure, and agriculture.  

Oxfam is providing clean water and hygiene kits to survivors of yesterday’s mudslide on the outskirts of Freetown, Sierra Leone.

Up to 90 per cent of housing in Vanuatu's capital reported to have been seriously damaged by Cyclone Pam, with still no information from the extremely vulnerable outer islands which are home to 33,000 people.