Samia provides 300 tonnes of food to Rufiji flood victims

COAST REGION : PRESIDENT Samia Suluhu Hassan has provided a humanitarian aid of 300 tonnes of food to the victims of floods in Rufiji District, Coast Region.

Speaking during the hand over ceremony yesterday, Coast Regional Commissioner (RC) Mr Abubakar Kunenge detailed the donations as 100 tonnes of beans, 100 tonnes of flour and 100 tonnes of rice. That was during the handing over of the packages to Rufiji District Commissioner, Mr Edward Gowele.

“Apart from continuing to receive different aids from the government, we have received this aid totaling 300 tonnes from the president. We will distribute the package to all victims in line with the president’s intent,” Mr Kunenge said.

He thanked the Rufiji Member of Parliament (MP), Mr Mohamed Mchengerwa for searching sponsors to help the victims.

Mr Mchengerwa is also the Minister for the President’s Office Regional Administration and Local Government (PORALG).

For his part, Mr Gowele commended President Samia for her heartfelt humanitarian support to Rufiji’s residents.

“I will ensure the aid reaches all victims,” he said.

The day before yesterday, the government noted that a total of 12,553 tonnes of food was needed to save 10,839 households of the flood victims in three districts.

The Government Chief Spokesperson, Mr Mobhare Matinyi said the aforementioned victims’ households are in Rufiji and Kibiti districts in Coast Region as well as Kilombero District in Morogoro Region Mr Matinyi said the government has established eight temporary camps for accommodating 1,529 victims from which seven camps have the capacity of offering temporary shelter to 1,394 residents and the remaining one is in Morogoro to accommodate 135 residents.

He said the humanitarian aids including 40 tonnes of maize and shelter facilities were accompanied by 500 mosquito nets plus 400 blankets that were provided to the respective camps.

Furthermore, he said five tents have been provided to the camps with capacity of accommodating 70 people each.

Mr Matinyi said four tents were allocated to Rufiji and the only one in Kibiti. He said 43 tonnes of maize flour and 25 tonnes of beans arrived in Rufiji yesterday with disaster assessment experts to scale the magnitude of the damage and the way forwards.

Also read: RUFIJI, KIBITI FLOODS: Govt pours relief aid

Meanwhile, the government in Coast Region is searching for seven people who went missing after a canoe, which they were travelling in was sunk in Rufiji River on Sunday.

The Coast RC Mr Kunenge told the ‘Daily News’ over the phone yesterday that the exercise was ongoing, but slowly due to the strong river currents.

“We are continuing with the search for the seven people and we have high hopes of finding them since we have the equipment once the rains decrease,” he pointed out.

On the other hand, he mentioned that already a total of 749 victims from both Rufiji and Kibiti districts have been evacuated and accommodated in seven camps; three in Rufiji and four in Kibiti.

He also mentioned that the Minister for Livestock and Fisheries Mr Abdallah Ulega who is also a Member of Parliament for Mkuranga Constituent has provided a boat which has increased the speed of the evacuation exercise.

Mr Kunenge added that the camps for floods victims have been improved and that all basic needs are available at the camps.

On education, he said that arrangements are being made to enable students get classes to compensate for the time they spent without learning due to floods.

Various stakeholders have continued to support floods victims in the two districts by bringing different items including food, mattresses, water and others.

On the other hand, Mr Kunenge has urged the residents in the flood prone areas to take precautions, since the area has a large number of crocodiles and big snakes.

In addition to that, he has also warned the residents to stop using the canoes for crossing the river, because they are delicate and lack safety measures.