Floods Endanger Health of Senegalese Community

 

The lives of thousands of residents of Djeddah Thiaroye Kao, a suburb of Dakar, Senegal in the Pikine District, are at risk due to torrential rains which floods the area.

 

The large land area with over 66 district and 6,000 houses is usually emerged in water after heavy downpours in the raining seasons which ends up displacing people.

 

A visit to the community by 27 media personnel of the West African Journalist Network, attending a three day meeting in Dakar, Senegal, with support from Wateraid and WSCC, showed that residents are exposed to diseases such as malaria, diarrhoea, skin diseases and Guinea worm infects among others.

 

the first things that greeted the journalists included deserted houses with over grown weeds, rubbles of what use to be the homes of people and refuse.

 

In terms of sanitation, the reporters observed that the abandoned houses were serving as refuse dumps sites with cats and birds having a field’s day.

 

Seyna Bou-Ngom, a 28-year-old mother of one, in an interview said ‘we live in difficult situations here especially in the month of June to August every year when the rains come, we experience the highest point of our predicament.’

 

She speaks passionately about the situation and expresses her worry over the government’s lack of support to alleviate their plight.

 

‘In 2005, when we were hit by the biggest flood, we were only relocated to live under tents. The government only provided us with some bed sheets, mosquito nets and receptacles. We need pragmatic measure to reduce the impact of the floods here and that is all we are asking for,’ said Ms. Bou-Ngom with a sense of bitterness in her voice.

 

She indicated that ‘the floods have changed our lives,’ explaining that all households are obliged, as a results of the rains which destroys anything in its ways, to keep important items over a certain height, and when the rains start 'we are compelled to even say our prayers, eat and do other things on our beds instead of the floor.’

 

She points out how sand is used to fill the area around the houses as a measure to prevent the rain water from entering the rooms but most of the houses have almost sunk to the window level as a result of this practice.

 

According to Ibrahim Sane, a technician at the Municipality, the level at which the floods hit the community has been raising over the years.

 

He explained that each year, the level gets about ten meters higher and doubts the strategy of raising the buildings or filling the ground was the best solution.

 

Mr. Sane hints that there are only three health centers to serve the population of over 70, 000 while out of 29,000 children only 12,000 are enrolled in school as a result of the lack of infrastructure.

 

Coumba Sarr, a 14 year-old girl was seen washing  outside her home behind a wall which are half washed by the rain. 

The wall just like many of the others which were seen looks like it would fall anytime soon with the least force applied 

 

She tells the journalists that her family has never left their home despite the floods and pressure from the municipality to relocate for safety, but has rather resorted to using garbage to refill the ground at a cost of CFA 20,000 per truck.

 

 

Mayor of the Municipality, Aliou Diouck, admits that the stagnant water in the communities breeds lava which develops into mosquitoes- the main causative agents of malaria.

 

He said last year, the municipality recorded 11 deaths due to the collapse of a weak building while they are reports of water borne diseases among others.

 

However, he stated that there are plans to undertake an 11 billion dollar project which would provide a sustainable solution to the flooding problem of the area.

 

He said the project which would include a run water management and climate change adaptation would include the resettlement of about 8,000 people who are usually hit by the floods.

 

‘A feasibility study of the project has been done and an environmental assessment is also being carried out what is left to do is the  declaration of the area as a public utility area and then we can resettle the inhabitants after compensating them.’

 

Though most of the people are illegal settlers, the Mayor admits that they now have a natural access to the land since they have been occupants for decades.