Hundreds rendered homeless as storm hits Mpanda Commune

About 500 people in Mpanda Commune in the northwestern province of Bubanza are homeless after a storm hit the area on Sunday, destroying 102 houses and a primary school. "The affected residents have sought refuge in neighbouring villages and some spend the nights in the open," Fidele Niyonkuru, the Mpanda administrator, told IRIN on Tuesday. The Musenyi and Gifugwe areas bore the brunt of the storm, which destroyed the commune's infrastructure as well as crops. "We are still collecting data, but we estimate the number of the victims at 500," Niyonkuru said. Musenyi Primary School, which hosted at least 1,000 pupils, had been completely destroyed, Niyonkuru said. The school was due to have reopened on Monday for the second term of the year. Niyonkuru said that so far, the victims had not received aid, but that the local administration had appealed for help to the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the government ministry in charge of returnees and displaced people. He said UNICEF had promised to provide provisional covering material for the victims pending the provision of iron sheets by the ministry. He said the displaced would also need food in the long run as their maize and bean crops were damaged.