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Burundi: Floods - Nov 2015

Disaster description

The current rainy season has been causing severe damages to housing due the El Niño climate event since November 2015, and is expected to continue until May 2016. Until mid-January 2016, heavy rains and floods resulted in the damage and/or the destruction of 5,068 houses in Burundi, affecting 30,408 persons who are in need of assistance in shelter/NFI, based on assessments conducted by the authorities with support from the Burundian Red Cross. Out of these affected 5,068 households, 276 found refuge in two IDP sites set up in November 2015 and January 2016 respectively in Rumonge province, with the majority of the households displaced in host families. Heavy rains mixed with strong winds, landslides, floods and thunderstorms also characterized the period from 13 to 25 January all over the country, causing 28 dead and 22 wounded. 703 houses were destroyed and 24 damaged, while 36 schools and 22 bridges were also destroyed, as reported in the assessment conducted by the Provincial Platform for Risk Prevention and Disaster Management, the Red Cross of Burundi, and the Civil Protection. (OCHA, 29 Jan 2016)

The Burundian Red Cross (BRC) continues with the WASH response in the two flood displacement sites in Rumonge province where 1,728 people live, including 975 women and 306 children under five. At the Cashi site, WASH sectoral partner, Norwegian Church Aid (NCA) in coordination with the BRC, constructed additional toilet facilities, which are within the Sphere standards (an average of 19-24 people par cabin). (UNICEF, 31 Mar 2016)

The Bujumbura-rural province is particularly today under a big chock of flooding. The overflowing of Rusizi river due to El Nino torrential rains that hit hills of Rwanda and DR Congo from where it flows caused flooding in many areas of Gatumba zone in Mutimbuzi commune. Many houses are being destroyed leaving behind hundreds of persons homeless. Some schools are also closed and many hectares of fields of crops are under water. Moreover, some areas are inaccessible. (Burundi Red Cross, 21 Jul 2016)

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