Scale of impact increasing

Homeless

On arrival, I was first struck by the amount of people on the streets walking with their belongings on their heads. But where are they going? They have nowhere to go. The roadsides are filled with people finding shelter under their beds, plastic sheeting or donated tents.

Scale

The scale of this emergency is unbelievable, every day we are hearing of more and more towns affected by the floods. I visited a camp where Concern, through its partners, are providing water, sanitation and hygiene education.

Missing

One mother said she left her son on top of the roof of their house to guard against looting of what little belongings they own. She wonders what has become of her son and whether she will ever see him again.

Suffering

She and her village waded through water and walked for 12 hours just to find dry land, with whatever belongings they could take with them on their heads. They are hungry, homeless, without clean water and some of the children in the camp are suffering from gastric illness, malnutrition, waterborne diseases and dehydration.

Intense heat

I was out for two hours in the sun yesterday and I felt like my insides were burning up it was so hot. I just don’t know how these people are going to survive living in these conditions for the foreseeable future.