1. Home
  2. Update

C.A.R flooding 'catastrophe' further exposes Africa's lax disaster response system

Source(s): Ventures Africa
Upload your content

By Ajifowoke Michael Gbenga 

Nearly 30,000 people have been left without homes in the Central African Republic (C.A.R) after days of heavy rains, severe flooding and rising levels at the Oubangi River in the southwest of the capital, Bangui.

[…]

While the government appeals for resources and emergency relief to assist thousands of affected people, disasters like this highlight the need to have in place sustainable solutions for confronting climate and natural disaster risks.

[…]

Disasters come with implications on economic growth too. From 1998 to 2017, disaster-hit countries reported direct economic losses of $2.9 trillion and climate-related disasters accounted for $2.2 trillion of the total amount, according to the United Nations (UN).

[…]

When it comes to responding to these disasters, Africa has always struggled. This is because it is forced to allocate a portion of its limited resources to disaster preparedness along with several competing priorities in health, education, infrastructure, and other sectors.

[…]

Read the original story here

Editors' recommendations

Explore further

Hazards Flood
Themes Governance Economics of DRR
Country and region Central African Republic
Share this

Please note: Content is displayed as last posted by a PreventionWeb community member or editor. The views expressed therein are not necessarily those of UNDRR, PreventionWeb, or its sponsors. See our terms of use

Is this page useful?

Yes No Report an issue on this page

Thank you. If you have 2 minutes, we would benefit from additional feedback (link opens in a new window).