Tuesday, August 15, 2017
More than 300 people have been killed in mudslides and flooding near Sierra Leone’s capital, Freetown, following heavy rains.
Zynab Kamara, ActionAid’s Senior Emergencies Response Manager in Sierra Leone, said:
“In nearly a decade of working on humanitarian response I’ve never witnessed anything so tragic. I saw children clambering over the rubble and mud, desperately calling for their parents. So many people were trapped, trying to reach their loved ones.
“The landslide is huge in scale. It started in Regent, on Mount Sugar Loaf and rolled across three other communities, burying everything in its path, destroying homes from five story buildings to corrugated iron shacks. Its swept people’s crops and livelihoods away, leaving them with nothing.
“Right now ActionAid’s main priority is getting emergency food, blankets, clothing and hygiene kits containing soap and basic sanitation items, to the most vulnerable people, who we believe to be women and children under five.”
Notes to Editors:
Currently the flooding and mudslide affected settlements in Regent are: Mount Sugar Loaf-Motomeh, New England, Kanigo-Sheriff Town, Kulvert – Kissy, Juba, Dwarzak, Water Street – Wellington, Kamayama, Pentagon, Mountain Cut, Alpha Wurie Drive, Congo Town Bridg, Susan’s Bay, Charles Street, Campbell Street, Samba Gutter, Kroo Bay, Pike Street Bridge, Bai Bureh Road, Calaba Town in the Western Area of Freetown.
The destruction is especially high in the following areas: Regent – Mount Sugar Loaf; Kanigo-Sheriff Drive; Juba; Kamayama; Pentagon; Mountain Cut; Alpha Wurie Drive; Congo Town Bridge.
