Over 25,000 flood victims need help, relief agency says

Some 26,000 people affected by floods in in northern Guinea are in need of assistance, according to the World Food Programme (WFP) which, along with other relief bodies such as the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), has been sending supplies to the area. WFP said the floods have affected the prefectures of Mandiana, near the border with Mali, Kouroussa and Kankan. ICRC said thousands had been displaced. ICRC said in a news release on Thursday that it was about to distribute relief supplies to 125 families in Mandiana. It also said it had taken urgent steps to help other flood victims in northern Guinea (Haute-Guinee), where local Red Cross volunteers distributed blankets, buckets, soap and sleeping mats to around 1,000 families, or nearly 10,000 people from 25 to 27 September. Guinean Red Cross volunteers also received training in health education as well as teaching materials from the ICRC and the Federation and were now going to brief the inhabitants of Haute-Guinée on the basic rules of hygiene and the dangers of waterborne diseases so as to prevent the outbreak of epidemics, ICRC said.