The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has approved the immediate release of $8 million dollars to support victims in flood ravaged Maiduguri, in Nigeria’s Borno state. Severe flooding there last week killed dozens of people and displaced hundreds of thousands of others.
Mohammed Malick Fall, the U.N. resident coordinator, announced the new funding to journalists in Maiduguri while visiting flood victims over the weekend.
The visit was to assess the extent of damage caused by the flooding and to ramp up lifesaving assistance.
Fall announced the allocation of $8 million from the humanitarian fund to support disaster response and management.
“We’re all behind you not only in sympathy but in solidarity. We will not spare any of our resources in this response,” Fall said. “Probably we might not be where we want it to be in terms of resources, but as we speak, we’ll try to refocus resources that have been designed for some other intervention to see how we can bring them toward scaling up and speeding up this response. We’ll prioritize our response around the immediate need.”
The U.N. has provided hot meals and facilitated food air drops in hard-to-reach areas cut off by flood waters.
Last Thursday, a dam burst caused millions of liters of water to pour into communities in Maiduguri. State authorities say the flood killed dozens of people and affected more than 1 million others.
Many are taking shelter in camps. The disaster follows an alarming malnutrition crisis caused by conflict, climate change and inflation in the region.
Local residents say food prices have skyrocketed as a result of flood waters washing out access roads and markets and farms.
Borno state Governor Babagana Umara Zulum told journalists the full extent of damage remains unknown.
