The European Union has released 5.4 million euros ($6 million) in aid for six West and Central African countries hit by deadly floods, the EU’s delegation in Chad said Wednesday.
That humanitarian aid was “to help the worst-affected populations following the devastating floods in Chad, Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon, Mali and Burkina Faso,” it said in a statement.
Since the rainy season began, torrential downpours have ravaged several regions.
So far the rains have killed more than 1,500, affected four million and displaced 1.2 million more in those six countries as well as Guinea, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
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“This year’s floods are unprecedented, a stark reminder of the growing impacts of climate change in our region,” said Sylvia Ekra, IOM Regional Director for West and Central Africa.
The EU package allocates 1.35 million euros to Niger, 1.1 million euros to Nigeria, 1 million euros to Chad and Mali each, 650,000 euros to Cameroon and 350,000 euros to Burkina Faso.
That is in addition 232 million euros in humanitarian aid already allocated to these countries since the beginning of the year, according to the EU press release.
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For its part, the IOM has already released $3 million in emergency aid to Nigeria, where almost 650,000 people have fled the floods.
In the latest toll by the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), severe flooding in Chad has claimed 503 lives and affected around 1.7 million since July.
In Niger, where the start of the school year has been postponed by the disaster, more than a million people have been affected, according to the latest figures.
According to the IOM, the exceptional rainfall recorded in Mali is the most severe since 1967, with more than 180,000 people affected.
In the far north of Cameroon, the floods have killed 20 and affected more than 230,000 since the end of August, according to the latest OCHA figures.
Scientists have long warned that climate change driven by manmade fossil fuel emissions is increasing the likelihood, intensity, and length of extreme weather events such as torrential rains.
AFP
