Children and families at risk of being cut off from food, medical supplies as rains cut access to Sudan’s Central and West Darfur states

Dr. Bashir Kamal Eldin Hamid, Save the Children’s Health and Nutrition Director, said:

“Heavy downpours and widespread flooding in Sudan is compounding the suffering for families and children especially those displaced by more than 16 months of fighting, with contamination of water and decimation of health facilities causing a major outbreak of cholera.

“Five days ago, raging floodwaters destroyed the only bridge connecting Central and West Darfur states, creating a bottleneck on the West Darfur side of the river, with critical humanitarian aid unable to reach over 880,000 internally displaced people sheltering in Central Darfur. 

“Unless a new route is found or we are able to airlift humanitarian aid, we are concerned that children are likely to go for days or even weeks without food and medicine, putting them at increased risk of malnutrition and other diseases.

“As the floodwaters swept part of the bridge, Save the Children teams saw people take very dangerous and desperate moves by attempting to cross from one side of the river to the other using a wooden raft, putting their lives at risk.  A video clip seen by Save the Children shows a raft made of wood and metallic barrels capsize throwing people into the river. Young men can also be seen diving into the river to save people from being swept away.

“Since the start of the rains in June, flooding has added another layer of difficulty to delivering humanitarian aid to people in dire need. Save the Children is calling for the international community to step up and release the necessary funding and resources to rebuild the bridge and restore this vital connection between the two states so as to ensure displaced families and children in Central Darfur have unhindered access to food, medicine and other humanitarian services.”

ENDS