The Gatumba Floods in Burundi
And UNICEF Burundi's emergency response
Gatumba, Burundi - It all happened overnight. On April 19th, 90% of Gatumba’s population lost their belongings to the river. The small city, just outside Bujumbura, sits by the Ruzizi river. With the heavy rains and the water flowing down from the hills, 10,000 households lost their belongings overnight.
As a result, 11 out of 14 schools in the district have suspended classes: the schools are flooded, and the buildings are at risk of collapsing.
Over a thousand people have sought refuge in the official site being developed in Kinyinya II. They need everything: shelter, access to water, hygiene and sanitation (WASH) services, food, medical care, alternative education for children, child protection and psychological care for traumatized persons.
Murekerisoni Godilieve (45 years old), a mother to 3 children, is one of the floods’ victims. She says: ‘’ On the night of the 19th of April, my belongings were washed away by strong waters, leaving nothing behind. Everything I owned, food stocks, equipment and furniture were completely destroyed. My children do not go to school anymore because their school was flooded as well. They also lost their school textbooks.’’
Today, Godilieve feels desperate as she reports having lost her small bar as well. The floods crushed most of the bar’s equipment and it was her only source of income. Godilieve needs assistance, like thousands of other people who lost all their belongings or businesses.
This is all they have left: displaced people put their belongings to dry on this big square at one of the official settlement sites in Gatumba, the Kinyinya II’s site
© UNICEF Burundi/2020/Z.BOUJRADA
The population of Gatumba lives mainly from agriculture and petty trade. The fields (beans, corn, tubers) have been under water since April 19. The ones living on petty trade, who were already barely surviving because of the DRC border closing due to COVID-19, have witnessed the little they still had been washed away by the water.
Now, the fields, entirely underwater, have been turned into fisheries for young people and water points for some households. Some people go fetch for water in unclear and stagnant puddles while some young men go fishing with the hope to sell the catch of the day or cook it.
Flooded fields that became fisheries but also fertile grounds for waterborne diseases.
© UNICEF Burundi/2020/Z.BOUJRADA
Jean-Pierre holds the catch of the day from the water puddle in the background. Jean-Pierre does not go to school anymore because his school is closed. ‘’Today, I came here with some friends to try my luck at fishing, with the hope to make a few hundreds of BIF (Burundian Francs) to get by’’, Jean-Pierre explains.
© UNICEF Burundi/2020/Z.BOUJRADA
Collecting contaminated water for domestic use in the absence of potable water. Given this situation, the risks of contracting waterborne diseases is dramatically higher. Not far away from the flooded tailor’s shop and church, a UNICEF constructed water point has been completely swept away.
© UNICEF Burundi/2020/Z.BOUJRADA
4 basics schools have had to suspend classes because they are flooded, or because they are being used as temporary shelters for displaced families. Pupils have also lost their school materials and will urgently need to be reintegrated into schools in the nearby areas. UNICEF with the Ministry of Education has distributed 4,000 school kits for the student victims. In coordination with UNICEF also, 2,900 students were able to benefit from school kits with the support of civil society organizations such as Right To Play and Human Health Aid. More financial assistance is needed to cover basic education needs to 2400 more school children, to initiate schools’ rehabilitation and to reintegrate struggling students in neighboring schools.
A basic school is inaccessible due to the heavy floods that affected the area at the entrance of Gatumba, Bujumbura rural.
© UNICEF Burundi/2020/Z.BOUJRADA
As of April 30, 2,000 newly displaced households, which corresponds to 27,942 people arrived at the Gatumba main road.
© UNICEF Burundi/2020/Z.BOUJRADA
The overflowing waters of the Rusizi River invaded the districts of Kinyinya I and II, Mushasha I and II, Gaharawe, Vugizo, Muyange I and II of the Gatumba area on the night of April 19. Following these events, a spontaneous site with more than 1,000 households was set up in the locality of Kigaramango while the provincial authorities were sensitizing everyone to join the official site located in the locality of Maramvya.
UNICEF has installed emergency latrines at the official settlement site, in addition to a bladder. Water should be available on site in the coming days
© UNICEF Burundi/2020/Z.BOUJRADA
The impact of the floods hitting Gatumba is devastating for thousands of people, who have been left without access to water, sanitation and hygiene services (WASH).
UNICEF, in coordination with the Burundian civil protection and GVC, installed 5 bladders that provide water supply to 20,218 people trough water tracking.
Also, and despite the ongoing efforts of UNICEF to respond to the dire needs by providing WASH kits that include soap and water jerry cans to 12,216 people, more financial assistance is urgently required to ensure more people are assisted today in a timely manner, more than ever.
