UNICEF Mobilizes in Maga, Extreme North, for Flood Victims
Floods are severely affecting the Extreme North of Cameroon, a Sahelian region bordering Chad and Nigeria, one of the most vulnerable areas in the country. At least 365,000 people have been affected by the floods, a number expected to rise in the coming days and weeks. Report from Pouss, in the commune of Maga, Mayo Danay department, where UNICEF is mobilizing to help the victims.
On the road dotted with deep potholes further dug by torrential rains, a providential ray of sunshine and blue sky highlights the beauty of the Sahelian region in the rainy season. The vibrant green of the rice fields, the red hues of the tall millet stalks, the fishermen’s canoes caught in the tall river grasses spreading from the fragile banks of Lake Maga. A landscape that seems idyllic, imbued with a gentle way of life, in the Mayo Danay department, in the Extreme North of Cameroon.
But upon arriving in Maga, a bronze sky captures the light and pours torrents of rain onto the waterlogged land. The gentleness gives way to the violence of the torrential rain that mercilessly batters the inhabitants and their makeshift shelters.
Under this pounding rain, the UNICEF convoy progresses slowly on the fragile and largely impassable dike, where one can only travel with prefectural authorization, so narrow that one fears meeting a vehicle coming from the opposite direction, forcing the 4x4s into perilous contortions. Everyone watches anxiously as the water gnaws at the too-soft earth, ready to breach the dike. The road below is no longer passable, making it difficult for supply trucks to access. Chad is not far by bird’s eye view, but reaching it by car is another matter. So, people travel by canoe to get to school or the market.
We arrive at the Palia-Pouss neighborhood, a miniature illustration of the damage that has ravaged and continues to ravage the region. Here, according to the camp manager, 10,000 flood victims had to leave their flooded or collapsed homes to settle on equally waterlogged land that will become their temporary shelter until the rains give way to the sun that will dry the land.
It is the paradox of the Sahelian region, an infernal couple of droughts/floods that climate change exacerbates, eroding the natural cycle that once provided balance in the region.
The victims of Palia await the UNICEF Representative under this low and heavy sky, under the rain that whips their faces. Here, UNICEF, like other humanitarian actors, supports the Government in providing aid to the victims during this critical period. This required identifying the most vulnerable households, particularly those with children under five years old.
Throughout the Maga area, including Pouss and the Palia flood victims site, UNICEF is deploying a multisectoral response including cash distribution so that victims can meet their essential needs, whether it be shelters, mats, food, hygiene products, which they can procure from local markets, fortunately still active. 8,000 households have been identified in the region, and among them, 1,300 households will benefit from this aid in a few days. To extend this aid to other vulnerable households and push further towards Lake Chad, where needs are also immense, UNICEF has launched an appeal to its donors.
The UN agency is supported by young U-Reporters volunteers, some of whom are from Maga and well-known to the population. They visit families, assess their situation, listen to sometimes dramatic stories in which the victims recount the moment when their already precarious situation collapsed. School supplies drowned with identity papers and birth certificates, belongings, furniture, clothes… The meager possessions of families living in one of the poorest regions of Cameroon, suffering the same fate as neighboring Chad and Nigeria, victims of climate change that too few saw coming… The missing and loved ones lost when the sky and earth suddenly merged into water. So, the presence of U-Reporters is comforting, to the heart and soul.
The Palia site is watery, the mud sticks to the feet, water invades the ground of the precarious shelters barely protected by a few plastic tarps. But when the rain strikes relentlessly, with no dry clothes or blankets, people stay in their wet clothes, shivering while waiting for the sun to return.
Without latrines, the site offers only a meager flooded horizon to relieve oneself. To prevent health risks such as exposure to assaults for girls and women, unfortunately common when life is precarious, UNICEF is committed to building gender-specific latrines, a sustainable water supply system, and showers, on spaces belonging to municipal authorities. The ambition is not to invest in temporary solutions on makeshift land, but to provide facilities that will endure after the victims return to their homes and withstand future rains.
“We must propose a response that sustainably helps the inhabitants face the impacts of climate change,” explains Nadine Perrault, UNICEF Representative in Cameroon. “This is true in terms of water, hygiene, and sanitation as well as education and the fight against climate change.”
Because we must think about the future. The immediate one, so that schools can welcome children who had to put aside their school year; so that drinking water is accessible; to avoid cholera and the resurgence of malaria or typhoid, malnutrition too, which threatens children when the household lacks food, all these ills that insinuate themselves into the procession of disasters.
The longer-term one, now that climate change is disrupting the entire Sahel, which contributes so little to global warming. How to live, avoid diseases, protect crops and livestock, how to learn, develop, thrive?
The victims of Palia, like the 365,000 victims in the Extreme North of Cameroon, however, take one problem at a time and rely on the solidarity of those who, less affected, open their homes to them (also read Asta’s story). The Sahelian region is a region where solidarity takes on its full meaning.
It is estimated that 365,000 people have already been affected by the floods, including about 124,120 children, in the Extreme North of the country, and forecasts fear an increase in the number of victims.
This emergency response has been significantly bolstered by the generous contribution from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA). SIDA’s funding has enabled UNICEF to deliver critical support to flood-affected communities, addressing urgent needs across multiple sectors. The flexible nature of SIDA’s funding has allowed UNICEF to respond swiftly to sudden-onset emergencies and underfunded crises.
Thanks to SIDA’s support, UNICEF has been able to provide health services to over 13,000 patients, distribute insecticidal nets to vulnerable households, vaccinate over 131,000 children against cholera, and treat thousands of children with severe acute malnutrition. Additionally, SIDA’s funding has supported the establishment of temporary learning spaces, the provision of psychosocial support to nearly 25,000 children, and the implementation of a cash assistance program benefiting over 7,600 children.
UNICEF extends its sincere appreciation to the people of Sweden for their generous financial contribution, which has been instrumental in protecting the rights and improving the well-being of children affected by the floods in Cameroon.
— — — Written By Anne Fouchard, Chief Partnership, Advocacy and Communication (Office UNICEF Representative Yaounde, Cameroon)
