WFP assists victims of heavy rain

The World Food Programme (WFP) has distributed 48.7 mt of emergency aid to 3,000 victims of November's heavy rainfall in Mbandaka, the largest town in the province of Equateur, northern Democratic Republic of Congo. "It was imperative that WFP intervene because the victims had lost all their possessions," Odette Kishabaga, the head of the agency's sub-office in Mbandaka, said. The aid, distributed on 21 and 22 December with help of the National Red Cross, consisted of 30-day individual rations of maize flour, vegetables, oil and salt. Local authorities are sheltering many of the homeless in the town's former main prison, with many women and children sleeping on the bare floor. Humanitarian organisations and local officials in Mbandaka are evaluating the situation in the affected parts of the town and surrounding villages. "Such is the situation that the water sources have been infected, heightening the risk of diseases such as enteritis, diarrhoea, and cholera," WFP reported.