Kenya
Refugees victims to Kenyan floods get new shelter

afrol News, 17 November - Aid workers have built new structures and roofs for more than 3,500 families since violent rains two weeks ago left over 23,000 refugees without shelter and killed two young Somalis at Kakuma camp in northeastern Kenya. 

Staff of the UN refugees agency, UNHCR, yesterday morning reported that teams have so far constructed over 1,000 new family shelters in an area of the camp that was not flooded. Another 2,500 family structures that suffered less damage have been re-roofed using plastic sheeting and other construction material. 

- In all, more than 7,000 family shelters were damaged or collapsed completely during the four days of heavy rains, UNHCR spokesperson Ron Redmond yesterday told the press in Geneva. "Work to move refugees out of temporary accommodation with neighbours and community centers continues." 

UNHCR staff report that rain fell again Wednesday, temporarily halting the construction of mud bricks used for the walls of new shelters, and that the shortage of plastic sheeting is also slowing the effort. 

- The scale of the emergency wiped out the camp's stocks, said Mr. Redmond. UNHCR had dispatched another 2,500 sheets from Nairobi and wass moving another 14,500 from its regional stockpile in western Tanzania. A further 5,000 pieces had been ordered from the supplier and were expected to arrive in Kenya at the end of the week.

According to Mr. Redmond, aid workers have re-established a 24-hour supply of clean water to all portions of the camp, installing another 200 taps yesterday. "More latrines are being dug and medical workers say the health situation is satisfactory. School children are being mobilized on Saturdays to help make mud bricks for families unable to do the work themselves." 

Volunteers among the schoolchildren were also supposed to pitch in with a general camp cleanup. UNHCR had purchased hundreds of hand tools, including rakes, spades, hoes, metal buckets and wheelbarrows to collect litter and drain standing pools of water that flood waters left behind.

The extension of the camp's clean water system to the new area were completed two weeks ago, and eight banks of new latrines had been dug to replace facilities that collapsed in the downpour.

A team of NGO and UNHCR health experts has warned that further rains would require a broad immunisation of the camp population of 81,000, mostly Sudanese refugees, as there is a heightened risk now of cholera, respiratory diseases and malaria. 

Sources: Based on UNHCR and afrol archives

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