According to the Associated Press, at least 410 people have been confirmed dead and more than 5,000 are still missing following the flooding and landslip disaster that devastated the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s South Kivu province last week.
The floods, which began as torrential rain on May 4 and 5, reportedly swept over the riverside communities of Nyamukubi and Bushushu, destroying buildings as well as fields of crops and cattle and displacing thousands of people.
MSF’s emergency coordinator in South Kivu, Ulrich Crepin Namfeibona, described the situation as “dire” and said that certain areas had become unrecognisable.
“Nearly half of Nyamukubi’s village was destroyed.” The main route connecting Nyamukubi and Kalehe is no longer usable due to flood damage, hindering the arrival of humanitarian aid,” Namfeibona explained.
According to local authorities, the death toll is still growing as operations to rescue civilians and collect bodies continue.
“We are unable to deal with this many bodies as quickly as required.” “We’re looking for bodies with spades and hands,” said John Kashinzwe Kibekenge, a Red Cross representative in South Kivu region, to Reuters.
According to AFP, the government has given coffins to impacted areas following claims that many of the dead were buried in mass graves.
“These coffins were delivered late. We would have preferred that they arrive sooner; it was critical because we had already buried individuals like pigs, dumping three, five, ten, or forty victims in the same grave,” Roger Nabusike, a resident of Nyamukubi, was quoted as saying by AFP.
MSF stated that it will “continue to monitor the situation in the coming days to assess medical and humanitarian needs,” prompting fears of disease outbreaks in the cholera-affected region. “Shelter, food, and other basic items are urgently needed for these communities who have lost everything,” it stated.
