Over 2,000 flood victims in dire need of food

Victims of flood in Tana River County who have been living in camps for nearly three months say their plight has been forgotten.
Speaking to journalists, the residents, mostly from Charachara, Onkolde and Handaraku camps, said they have gone without food for three months now as the national government and the county governments had stopped supplying them.
"We have been struggling to find food and sometimes we commit crimes that may attract heavy penalties if arrested, but we do not have a choice but to survive," Abdi Badhole an elder told journalists.
Mr Badhole said residents had been forced to depend on little milk they get from their animals, herbs and game meat to survive as they had exhausted the three kilogrammes rice and two kilogrammes beans they were supplied with more than three months ago.

SUBMERGED
He said some women and children could not bear the biting hunger in the cold weather and chose to travel more than 30 kilometres to camps in Garsen where they are most likely to get help.
Many of the residents who live in makeshift tents, some fashioned from their clothes, said the government had stopped paying attention to them long ago, forgetting that their villages are still submerged and they have no other means of survival.
"We have nobody to help us. We don't know what is happening in the outside world , but our children are living witnesses of what is happening now, and God willing, they will live to narrate this," said Harufa Bilali, a mother of three.
Residents now fear that if this continues for another two weeks, deaths in the camps will be imminent.

MEDICAL SUPPLIES
According to the county Red Cross coordinator, Jared Bombe, the mandate to provide food to floods victims is a county and national government affair.
Mr Bombe said Red Cross and other NGOs are currently focusing on providing shelter, medical services and clean water.
"We have been tasked with the duty of providing medical supplies, clean water and tents for the victims, and the two governments have been in charge of food supplies. We only help in transportation of food," he said.
Regarding lack of shelter in various camps, Mr Bombe said they are waiting for more tents and medical supplies.
He said many areas in Kipini West are not accessible.
"Water in the area has not subsided and the showers are here again hampering relief work," he said.
Reached for comment, County Commissioner Oning'oi ole Sossio said the residents will still be catered for as there is enough food in stores.

INACCESSIBLE
He said accessibility was a major challenge as their trucks cannot get to the victims due to bad roads.
"We have trucks and enough food, but our trucks can't reach them because the roads are bad. Even tractors have been stuck there for months now," he said.
Mr Sossio urged the residents to be patient as there are all plans to address their plight despite the challenges in place.
More than 100,000 people had been displaced by the recent floods which saw 50,000 integrated while others were forced to camp in various places.
More than 20,000 have since left camps and gone back to their villages to continue farming after waters subsided.