Kenya: International community sends aid as floods wreak havoc
Kenya has received international aid from the UN, India, the United Arab Emirates, the UK and the Red Cross following floods that have killed at least 289 people since mid-March, the government said on Monday.
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The United Nations contributed 6.47 million euros, while organizations such as the Kenya Red Cross Society and Kenyan foundations Kepsa and Mpesa distributed food and other basic necessities, government spokesman Isaac Mwaura said in a statement.
Read Also: More than 350,000 displaced by floods in East Africa (Portuguese version)
The Indian government sent food and medicines, among other items, worth about 925,000 euros.
The United Arab Emirates provided 74 tons of food to families affected by the floods, and the United Kingdom provided aid worth almost one million euros.
The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) channeled aid and was responsible for its distribution to about 6,900 households.
"The government is providing logistical support, temporary shelter and essential commodities to the flood-affected persons and households," Mwaura said.
Mwaura also highlighted the distribution of more than 1.2 million kilograms of rice and beans to communities in more than 15 counties in the country.
The floods caused by heavy rains that hit Kenya have so far left at least 289 dead, 188 injured and 75 missing, according to the latest government data.
More than 57,000 families have been affected and about 285,600 people have been displaced from their homes and transferred to 187 camps in 25 counties in the country.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) denounced the Kenyan government's failure to act in time and respond adequately to the severe floods, despite weather forecasts.
The long rainy season, which runs from March to May and affects East Africa, was intensified by the El Niño weather phenomenon, a change in atmospheric dynamics caused by rising temperatures in the Pacific Ocean.
Although weather forecasts point to a reduction in rainfall in Kenya, "high soil moisture levels due to the increased rainfall may lead to a continued high risk of flooding, even as the rains subside," the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warned on Friday.
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