BUJUMBURA May 11th (ABP) – 896 households have been assisted since May 1, 2018 by the Burundi Red Cross (CRB) in the Bujumbura City alone, it was disclosed in Bujumbura on May 8, 2018 by Anselme Katiyunguruza, CRB Secretary General, on the occasion of the International Day of the Red Cross and Red Crescent. He said this has nothing to do with the extent of the adverse effects of flood-related disasters compared to the country as a whole.
Regarding the current response capacities to flood-related disasters, Mr. Katiyunguruza said that given their extension compared to the rest of the country, the BRC is doing its best to assist the victims. However, he regrets the anarchic building of houses in the city of Bujumbura, which often causes those floods and particularly asks the administration to review the format. He also indicates that it is time, if not late, to appreciate as objectively as possible the land on which it is realistic to build. He also asks to control and follow very closely the movement of some rivers of this country, notwithstanding many means that it requires and that probably neither the CRB nor the government does not have, but that the whole community can mobilize to help thousands of people affected by disasters.
Moreover, he stressed, this phenomenon is regional, especially in Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda and elsewhere, the situation is exactly the same, reason why a certain resilience that can take care at the individual level must be developed, which will attack the upstream phenomenon before it has produced downstream effects.
Regarding the discrepancy between the figures of victims published by the CRB and those of the administration, he pointed out that this has long been the subject of criticism that has fallen into careful ears. This problem was linked to poor coordination. Currently, as the CRB and the administration work in a logic of coordination ensured by the National Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction that brings together the entire humanitarian community, the figures are identical.
According to Mr. Katiyunguruza, “the Burundi Red Cross has more credit than other actors, because for more than 10 years, it has decided to be a decentralized organization that reduces the distance between itself and places where all forms of vulnerability are observed.
