According to Kaggwa, in the wake of the calamity, the District Emergency Response Team inspected the affected area and pledged to lobby for relief support from the Office of the Prime Minister but to their disappointment, the much-needed aid is not forthcoming despite the urgent need.
Part of the flooded houses that were affected after Lake Kijjanebarola burst its banks in Rakai district, the Victims are starving after crops were destroyed (File Photo)
Hundreds of residents who were displaced by the recent
flooding of Lake Kijjanebarola in Rakai district are still stranded because of the government's delays to deliver the much-needed relief support for their resettlement.
Over 200 families in the parishes of Kigoto, Ntarure,
Kanagisa, Kagaaga, and Kasankara, in Kagmba, Kachera, and Lwamaggwa sub-counties,
Rakai district were rendered homeless after Lake Kijjanebarola burst its
banks mid last month, causing heavy flooding in the area.
Besides the houses, the virulent flashfloods claimed three
lives and dozens of livestock, on top of submerging several acres of
plantations adjacent to the boundaries of the lake and its auxiliary tributaries. Despite witnessing some recession of the water, the flood victims are still stranded in improvised
shelters due to failure to get relief support that would enable them to reconstruct their lives.
Johnbosco Kaggwa, the LC I Chairperson for Kanigasa village,
says that the flood victims are currently stuck and can hardly find support to
rebuild their houses. He notes that the majority of the houses were badly ruined
by the floods that left them inhabitable and that the victims will need to
construct new ones.
According to Kaggwa, in the wake of the calamity, the District
Emergency Response Team inspected the affected area and pledged to lobby for relief support from the Office of the Prime Minister but to their disappointment,
the much-needed aid is not forthcoming despite the urgent need.
Kaggwa says that some of the victims especially the vulnerable
such as children and mothers had been accommodated in the neighboring
communities, but they are now being asked to leave due to the additional burden
on families that had hosted them.
He has pleaded with the government to support the victims with
building materials such that they can reconstruct their homes and resettle
their families.
(Luganda byte)//Cue in: “abagenze
nga bawunga….Cue out: ….n’akwevuma
government.”//
Jonan Mugume, Patrick Lukwago, and Sarah Kyabangi, some of
the victims of the floods narrate that they are finding it so hard to survive
in such deplorable conditions.
The
victims have cried out to the government to support them with the basic construction materials, saying they are currently sleeping in the cold and at risk of
contracting diseases. Kyabangi adds that besides the destroyed houses, the victims
are also starving because their food crops were also devastated by the floods.
//Cue in; “government
yanditunulidde….
Cue out: ….twazimba
mu ntobazi.”//
Robert Kambugu, the Rakai Deputy Resident District
Commissioner and a member of the Emergency Response Team, also acknowledges the
suffering the victims are currently facing.
He says as they wait for the Office of the Prime
Minister to deliver the support it promised to the victims, the district has also
resorted to sourcing any aid from kindhearted groups of people that can provide temporary
relief to the situation.
