Floods render thousands homeless

Floods caused by heavy rains have destroyed an estimated 5,226 houses, rendering thousands of people homeless in 11 of Chad's 14 regions since the beginning of August, Information Minister Moussa Dago told IRIN on Friday.

"Globally we have about 30,000 persons who have been (directly) affected by the floods," he said. "Most of these have lost their homes while some have contracted malaria," added Dago, who led an assessment team that included representatives of UN agencies to the central region of Batha on 7 August.

Batha is the worst hit region and Chad's government has set aside 30 million CFA francs (about US$50,000) for emergency assistance to people there, Dago said. He added that the government planned to send a delegation on Saturday to the regional capital, Ati - about 600 km east of Ndjamena - to distribute food, mosquito nets and mats and other emergency supplies.

Dago said Chad hoped to receive assistance from the international community to cater for all the affected regions. The country's foreign minister launched an appeal for help at a meeting he had on Thursday with ambassadors and representatives of UN and other international organisations, he said.

This month's rains have been extremely heavy in much of Chad. Batha for example, usually gets about 40 mm on a good day in the rainy season but, according to Dago, it received about 150 mm on 3 to 4 August, causing the River Batha to overflow.

"The river has not reached that level in about 30 years," he said.