By: Modou Touray
Victims of last year’s flash flood at Brikama Jambar Sanneh neighborhood are calling for emergency support to reconstruct their destroyed houses.
Malang Manneh, a household head of an affected compound, spoked extensively on the devastating impact of last year’s heavy rainfall on his livelihood.
“Life has not been easy since the collapse of our house last year due to flash flood. At the time of the disaster, my family members were inside the house but quickly escaped unharmed.”
Mr Manneh could not ascertain the monetary value of the destruction in his household but said their beds, chairs, clothes and other valuables were all destroyed beyond repair.
“The beds we were using each cost more than D5,000 and the chairs were costly too. Currently, I stay with my family at Brikama Kunta-Kinteh at a temporal residence which we rent. The collapse of our house made us homeless.”
He pleaded for supports to enable his family return to their home which was destroyed by the flash flood.
Malang Manneh is a carpenter and his carpentry workshop is situated at the same premises. Malang’s residence is located on the new 400-meters highway being constructed by the Brikama Area Council.
Apart from Malang, Bubacarr Gisseh is also a household head in the affected compound. He is a radio mechanic who also moved with his family to Brikama-Madina in a temporal settlement.
“We are homeless. The temporal structure we currently occupy is not spacious. We are just like homeless people. I am appealing for assistance, because looking at the economic situation, its not easy. I am very traumatized by this situation. I have been doing some maintenance work here, but due to the location of the house, it’s difficult to avert such destructions. We welcome the construction of the new highway in Jambar Sanneh which we hope will minimize such problem often caused by flash floods.”
Mr Gisseh’s family members are scattered due to lack of a bigger house to accommodate all of them.
There are other affected persons who we could not speak to, however, some of their household materials destroyed were shown to this medium.
Jambar-Sanneh neighborhood is headed by “Alkalo” Dembo Karang Nyima Bojang. His son, Abdou Magid Bojang, is currently executing his function as head of the locality.
In his reaction to the plights of victims, Mr Bojang confirmed the incident and said the head of the settlement is fully aware of the unfortunate collapse of their house.
“When it occurred, we were aware and assessment was conducted. The problem was that submission of the list of disaster victims to regional disaster office was late. That was what affected the support package for some victims in our locality.”
This medium quickly contacted the regional disaster office in West Coast Region concerning the issue, however, we were informed that the issue is subjected to verification by checking whether victims complaining are captured in their database.
