**The tragedy of the torrential rains in Bukavu: Six months later, the call for help from the victims remains urgent**
Six months ago, the city of Bukavu was ravaged by torrential rains which left indelible marks on its urban and human landscape. In the neighborhoods and streets of the city, twenty-nine people lost their lives, including women, men and children. The material damage was just as devastating, with the collapse of more than two hundred homes.
These figures, although already known, still resonate tragically today. Because if the media reported on this natural disaster at the time, the reality of the victims remains as worrying as ever. This is what rightly underlines the Humanitarian Governance Observatory, a civil society platform which is now calling for urgent action to help the two hundred households concerned.
In the turmoil of this humanitarian crisis, these families find themselves today in a situation of extreme precariousness, left behind, forgotten. Their homes destroyed, their lives turned upside down, their future uncertain. It is in this alarming context that the OH-DRC is launching an urgent appeal to the government for lasting humanitarian assistance. Assistance which is not limited to one-off solutions, but which aims to rebuild and rehabilitate these damaged communities, to offer them a new chance, a new hope.
Faced with this palpable distress, the civil society organization took the lead by setting up a local crisis committee. This committee’s mission is to coordinate and channel the different forms of aid intended to relieve these affected families. Because it is crucial that this assistance reaches the most vulnerable people quickly and effectively, those who have lost everything and who are desperately waiting for a gesture of solidarity, a ray of light in the darkness that surrounds them.
At this crucial moment, solidarity and humanity emerge as the only defenses against distress and desolation. It is time for everyone, government, civil society, citizens, to mobilize to provide concrete, lasting support to the victims of Bukavu. Because their struggle for survival must not be a solitary battle, but a common cause, a shared responsibility.
Together, let’s offer them a glimmer of hope, a helping hand towards a safer, more radiant tomorrow. Because the torrential rain of last December should not erase the smile, the dignity, the dignity of those who lost everything, but who did not abandon everything.