Entire communities were displaced by flooding that damaged and destroyed houses in Freetown on Friday 2nd August. Victims began evacuating as early as 9:30 a.m. on Friday, but remained in limbo for over two days waiting for government agencies and partners to assist them. According to the Red Cross Society of Sierra Leone, search and rescue vehicles and ambulances were deployed early on Friday, but victims displaced by the disaster were largely relying on neighbors and family members for shelter while organizations assessed the damages across the city. Over 20 government agencies and NGOs split up in groups and went to different parts of Freetown to assess the livelihood of victims, the number of people affected and lives lost, and the situation with host communities. The groups reconvened on Sunday at 1 p.m. to synthesize their findings, but the assessment time left victims to fend for themselves for three nights.
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Assessments found that the communities of Hamilton and King Tom’s Lodge are both uninhabitable after the flood and that over 5,300 people across Freetown were affected. The government has discouraged victims from camping out in public places, but did not present any housing alternatives to those affected until Tuesday. According to the Red Cross Society of Sierra Leone, food and non-food items were distributed in Culvert, Kroo Bay, and Susan’s Bay on Saturday, but this is the extent of supply distribution as of Monday. Many victims have lost everything they own in the floods and one victim testified that all of their property was lost in the flood, leaving him with just the clothes he was wearing. Agencies and NGOs still had not finished their assessment processes, and spent Monday and Tuesday continuing the collective effort by registering and verifying all of those affected before responding. But as they entered into their fifth day since the disaster, victims had little choice but to continue relying on their family members and neighbors.
By Emma Scher
Tuesday August 08, 2019.
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