A Congolese Red Cross representative said that without the necessary equipment, the organization would be unable to continue searching for hundreds of victims of the recent deadly floods in eastern Congo.
Since early May, when flash floods swept away entire villages and killed over 460 people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s South Kivu province, Red Cross teams have been searching for bodies.
I believe that all of the hundreds of people still listed as missing have died. The head of the South Kivu Red Cross, Desire Yuma Machumu, said by phone that people are buried “three meters below the surface, under the deluge of mud, rocks, and timber.”
“The volume of debris no longer allows us to work by hand,” he said, adding that the search could resume once provincial authorities made mechanical diggers and other heavy machinery available.
On May 4, torrential rains caused landslides and floods in Kalehe territory, making recovery efforts difficult due to the territory’s isolation.
According to Archimede Karhebwa, Kalehe’s deputy administrator, “the bodies are in such a state of decomposition that it is no longer bearable,” reiterating the Red Cross’s request for additional equipment.
The governor of South Kivu, Theo Ngwabidje Kasi, said the road to the villages was still closed, but he hoped it would reopen soon.
“The road opening will allow us to bring in everything we need for the optimal management of this disaster,” he said
There are fears that the flood’s dead bodies and ruined sewage systems will contaminate water supplies and spread disease to the estimated 9,000 survivors.
“We have collected the bodies on the surface and have so far avoided the worst because there are no cases of cholera,” Yuma Machumu of the Red Cross said.
