Kenya Red Cross on Friday appealed for at least Sh499 million emergency fund to help more than 150, 000 people spread across 15 counties devastated by floods.
So far, more than 100 people have died since the onset of the long rains reason that begins in March and ends in May.
The heavy rains have resulted in flooding that has affected at least 32 counties, leaving in its wake deaths, injuries, displacements and destruction of infrastructure and property.
FUND
Kenya Red Cross Secretary General Abbas Gullet said that the emergency fund will go towards provision of shelter and settlement, health and nutrition, water, sanitation and hygiene, food security and livelihoods for the affected people.
He said that the worst affected counties are Tana River, Garissa, Kilifi and Kisumu, Mandera, Isiolo, Turkana, Marsabit, Makueni, and Kitui where 48,177 households have been displaced so far, translating to 260,200 people.
Dr Gullet said that the society plans to escalate its flood response programmes in 21 counties, namely: Tana River, Turkana, Mandera, Wajir, Garissa, Isiolo, Kilifi, Homa Bay, Taita Taveta, Nakuru, Baringo, Busia, Marsabit, Narok, Kisumu, Makueni, Taita Taveta, Kajiado, Kisumu, Nandi, and Kitui.
“Major disruption of livelihoods, due to population displacements and flooding of business premises has occurred in these counties and at least 29 schools are either submerged or inaccessible,” said Dr Gullet during the launch of the flood appeal at Boma Hotel in Nairobi on Friday.
EMPTY COFFERS
Dr Gullet said that the relief organisation has only Sh50 million in its accounts distributed as follows: Sh28 million budget for shelter and relief against resource requirement of over Sh164 million, Sh14 million for provision of health and nutrition against a requirement of Sh98 million, Sh7.8 million for water, sanitation and hygiene against a requirement of over Sh65 million.
In addition, livelihoods recovery (Sh55.7 million), field operations, logistics, volunteers’ costs and boats (Sh35.5 million) and KRCS operation costs (Sh73.7 million) currently have zero budget.
DEVASTATION
The secretary general said that more than 21,661 acreage of land with crops has been destroyed in Tana River, Garissa, Kisumu, Tharaka Nithi counties; 8,223 animals washed away and ten health facilities – four in Tana River and six in Kisumu – have been flooded and 32 more rendered inaccessible in Isiolo and Marsabit with risk of epidemics increasing.
He said that the priority needs will be provision of temporary shelter materials to estimated 48,000 households with only 14,916 households reached.
But the society in collaboration with national and county governments targets to provide emergency food rations to 25,000 households in Tana River, Isiolo, Wajir, Mandera, Garissa counties.
“A total of 1,354,443 people have been reached since the start of the heavy rains where 326,776 people have been reached by the agency’s cash transfer programme, health services offered to 74,796 people, food distributed to 208,020 people, and provision of water, sanitation and hygiene services extended to 343,887 people,” he said.