| UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA - AFRICAN STUDIES CENTER |
SUDAN: US $230 million needed to recover from floods
NAIROBI, 18 November 1998 (IRIN) - The worst floods in Sudan for over 50 years displaced a million people, a new donor report says. A multi-agency assessment team has developed a proposed emergency programme to help the country recover from the impact of this year's floods with a preliminary cost estimate of US $230 million.
The recovery plan, outlined in a document received by IRIN, was prepared earlier this month in Khartoum by UN agencies, the government, the World Bank, the IMF and regional development banks following a two-week assessment mission. The August/September floods, which touched 18 of Sudan's 26 states, affected about one million people of whom well over 100,000 were displaced, the report states. The floods, more devastating than those of 1946 and 1988, led to a dramatic increase in the incidence of malaria, diarrhoea and other water-related diseases, primarily because of flooded latrines, polluted wells, destroyed water systems and the presence of stagnant water, the report continues.
Production in the irrigated agricultural sector was seriously reduced, up to 20 percent of the country's date palm trees were destroyed and there were large losses of livestock from disease and drowning. The floods also damaged social and other infrastructure. A total of 165 primary schools were destroyed in affected areas while another 438 schools were damaged. A portion of the vital Khartoum-Port Sudan highway was destroyed and a new bridge is needed at Gadambalya, according to the report.
Meanwhile, donors had reported contributions of US $1.2 million to UN agencies up to 22 October in response to the US $8.9 million emergency flood appeal launched by OCHA in September, an OCHA official in Geneva told IRIN on Tuesday. Several Arab countries have made additional flood relief donations worth "millions of dollars" directly to the government, the official said.
Since 1997, Sudan has made "considerable progress" in initiating structural reforms under IMF-monitored economic programmes, the multi-agency flood assessment team said in the background section of its report. The report said significant improvement in economic performance had occurred since the mid-1990s, with inflation falling from an average of 114 percent in 1996 to 14 percent in August 1998.
Growth has been maintained at about five percent per year. However, the report noted that the 1998 floods came at a "critical juncture" in Sudan's development. Per capita income was only US $280, and difficult economic conditions were exacerbated by the drain on resources caused by the ongoing civil war in the south, the report said.
[ENDS]
Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1998 16:20:37 -0300 (GMT+3) From: IRIN - Central and Eastern Africa <irin@ocha.unon.org> Subject: SUDAN: US $230 million needed to recover from floods 1998.11.18 Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.3.95.981118162011.16482m-100000@amahoro.ocha.unon.org>
Editor: Dr. Ali B. Ali-Dinar, Ph.D
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