United Nations, Feb 9 (IANS): UN humanitarians have said that $6 million were allocated to help Congo respond to "catastrophic flooding" affecting two million people.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Thursday that the Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths made the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) allocation this week "to support the response to catastrophic floods in the Congo".
The office added that since December 2023, heavy rainfall caused the Congo river to surge to its highest levels since 1961, triggering the flooding, affecting 18 out of the country's 26 provinces and more than two million people, including in the capital Kinshasa, Xinhua news agency reported.
"The floods are worsening already high humanitarian needs, with significant destruction of infrastructure and a critical disruption of basic services," OCHA said.
"The CERF allocation will support nearly 400,000 people in the areas of health, food security, shelter and protection, among others."
The second largest country in Africa, after Algeria, Congo has been plagued by civil unrest in the eastern provinces of North Kivu, South Kivu, Ituri and Tanganyika, forcing more than seven million people to flee their homes from clashes between armed rebel groups and government troops, OCHA added.
More than 25 million people in Congo need humanitarian assistance.