2023-05-07 15:30:24
The number is steadily increasing day by day. Floods and landslides caused by heavy rains on Thursday May 4 in South Kivu, eastern Democratic Republic of Congokilled at least 394 whose bodies were found, according to a new report communicated Sunday, May 6 by an administrative official.
This official, Thomas Bakenga, administrator of the territory of Kalehe, in which the affected villages are located, had reported Saturday at least 203 dead. “We are now at more than 390 bodies found. 142 in Bushushu, 132 in Nyamukubi and 120 have just been found floating on Lake Kivu” at the level of the island of Idjwi, said Thomas Bakenga on Sunday followingnoon by phone AFP. “Since Thursday, we find bodies every minute and we bury them,” he added.
A provisional official report advanced Friday evening by the authorities of the province of South Kivu evoked at least 176 dead.
Several villages were submerged, many houses swept away, fields devastated, when rivers came out of their beds under the effect of torrential rains.
National Day of Mourning Monday
On the spot, the victims lack everything. According to Thomas Bakenga, “the provincial government gave assistance: a boat filled with food (beans, flour), tarpaulins, medicines…”
At the end of Friday’s Council of Ministers, Kinshasa announced the dispatch of a “government mission to support the provincial government in the management of this disaster”. He declared a day of national mourning on Monday.
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) also said it had dispatched an emergency team to the site on Saturday.
This disaster happened two days following floods that killed at least 131 people and destroyed thousands of homes Rwanda i might
The head of the UN, Anthony Guterresstressed on Saturday during a visit to Burundi that it was “a new illustration of an acceleration of climate change and its dramatic consequences for countries which are not involved in global warming” by the planet.
With AFP
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