Sudan floods' response

by Joanna Moorhead
AMID reports of yet more suffering in crisis-ridden Sudan, the national appeal organised by Britain's major charities this week topped £4.5 million.
CAFOD, the charity administering the appeal, said people were still being very generous and money was arriving all the time.
Meanwhile a CAFOD worker in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, confirmed that food and plastic sheeting sent by the agency had been distributed to some of the millions affected by last month's devastating floods. But it was still impossible to reach some outlying areas because of heavy rain, said Stephen King of the Africa desk, and local people feared more rainfalls before mid September.
"Damage to housing has been considerable, and food is still very scarce," he said in a telex. "Health conditions continue to deteriorate, and there are now fears of more damage to crops because of locusts."
Some of the flooded areas of Khartoum did, however, seem to be drying out sooner than had been expected, and there were no signs of a cholera outbreak yet.
CAFOD has now sent more than £234,800 worth of goods to Sudan as part of a £5 million aid programme being run by its partner agency Sudanaid.
More than 115 tonnes of high energy biscuits, 25 tonnes of cooking oil and 50 bicycles for health workers have been sent on three flights, along with plastic sheeting, blankets and other goods.
Robert Rees. who is coordinating the international Catholic Church response to the Sudanese disaster, said he had received information that about 1,000 families had been displaced in Southern Sudan by more flooding there, and that in other areas people were dying from starvation. Even before the current floods, Sudan was already in a state of crisis, with thousands fleeing the civil war in the south of the country.