Society

OCHA announces measures to minimise flood effects in Far North.

by Mboro Mesumbe Bwang
25 Jun 2024 11:59
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File photo of residents battling flood in a locality in the Far North Region

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, OCHA, has made known plans to effectively minimise the devastating effects of flood on the vulnerable population in the Far North Region.
OCHA announced the measures during a recent meeting with stakeholders.

At the end of the exercise, the organisation revealed it was finalising a work plan to better mitigate any flood risk.

According to the agency, it has for several months been actively preparing a work plan to minimize flood damage and protect vulnerable communities of the Far North Region.

The plan, according to OCHA, aims to ensure an effective and coordinated response resulting from floods as rains return. OCHA’s efforts in the fight against floods in the Far North are not the first of its kind.

The organisation has in recent years been concerned about the livelihood of vulnerable people who often face recurrent floods.

Its support has usually been through the provision of shelter, food, toiletries among others.

Flooding in the Far North Region has become increasingly frequent in recent years, particularly in the town of Kousseri in the Logone and Chari Division; Maroua in the Diamaré Division, and Yagoua in the Mayo-Danay Division.

According to OCHA, even though flood is a natural disaster, it remains a significant threat to the stability of local communities as in the Far North Region.

The organisation said floods have disrupted the daily life, damaged infrastructure, agricultural production, and negatively impacted public health, thus making the vulnerable population, further worsening their situation.

Not long ago, the National Observatory on Climate Change, NOCC, released a report for the period June 21-30 predicting floods in some eight regions in the country.

It cited the Littoral, North West, South West, West, Far North, North, Adamawa and Centre regions as likely to witness floods and thunderstorms as the rainy season sets in.

According to NOCC, heavy floods are expected in the Littoral Region specifically in administrative units such as; Douala IV, II and V. In the North West Region, the organisation mentioned Nkor, Santa, Batibo and Kumbo as areas likely to have floods.

In the Far North Region, floods, NOCC, indicated, are feared in the localities of Maga and Gamboura with rainfall between 15-140mm.

For the West Region, the locality of Dschang the same institution indicated will record rains between 80 millimetres and 235 millimetres.

This story was first published in The Guardian Post issue No:3148 of Monday June 24, 2024