By Kielce Gussie

More than 100 people are dead, 50 others are missing, and at least 28 people are injured following heaving flooding in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Torrential rains caused the Kasaba River to overflow and wash away several villages surrounding Lake Tanganyika.

A regional administrator confirmed that the majority of victims were children and the elderly. He described the rainwater as causing “enormous material damage.”

Devastating after effects

In an interview with Crux, Elie Mbulegheti, Director of Communications for Caritas Butembo-Beni, stressed the devastating impact the floods have had on the communities.

In addition to several infrastructures being destroyed, the flood waters also rushed into the city. “So, as a humanitarian consequence, several sanitary infrastructures have been destroyed by the water,” Mbulegheti explained.

He stated that some 2,000 households have been “left without shelter” and “do not have houses where they can stay.”

Flooding also impacted areas of the South Kivu province, where telephone lines have been destroyed and services are lacking due to the flooding restricting rescue operations.

Politics, conflict, and an environmental problem

This was not the first natural disaster to impact the African nation. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, OCHA, reported that floods impacted millions of people across West and Central Africa last year. In the Democratic Republic of Congo alone, 1.2 million suffered the effects of severe flooding.

The Director of Communications for Caritas Butembo-Beni argued that part of the problem DRC has in alleviating the impact of natural disasters is a failure to implement existing legislation.

He encouraged the country’s authorities to “actively engage in responsible urban planning” to prevent disasters such as the flood in the future. The Mbulegheti stressed that “prioritizing sustainable development and enforcing proper zoning laws” will help “mitigate future risks.”