The European Commission recently announced that it has granted emergency humanitarian aid of 200,000 euros to support families affected by floods and landslides in the province of South Kivu in the DRC. This assistance was provided as part of the EU contribution to the Disaster Response Emergency Fund (DREF) of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).
EU money will be used by the DRC Red Cross Society to provide direct humanitarian aid to 18,000 people. Relief includes the distribution of drinking water, hygiene and health services, as well as accommodation. Bushushu and Nyamukubi communities will be targeted.
Floods and landslides in the Kalehe region, caused by heavy rains in May, affected around 50,000 people and 3,000 houses were destroyed. The region had already hosted more than 100,000 people displaced from North Kivu due to the violence there, while cholera is endemic in the region.
The government has declared this area as a disaster area, which has made it possible to mobilize the necessary resources to come to the aid of the affected populations.
Faced with this difficult situation, the EU has therefore decided to provide emergency aid to help people meet their most basic needs. In this difficult time, every helping hand counts to save lives and bring some hope to those who lost everything in these natural disasters.