By Bida Elly David
Flood affected people in Unity State have been greeted with the sum of 15 Million South Sudanese pounds by Dr. Riek Machar and Angelina Teny as fundraising grants to help them manage the natural disaster.
This development came during the fund raising event at Freedom Hall on Saturday meant to rescue the flood affected victims in Unity State.
Unity State among other States has been the hardest hit State by flooding leaving good number of population submerged in flood while others embattle with health condition and starvation.
Heavy downpours and flash floods have destroyed plantations, buildings, education centres, health facilities, boreholes as well as killing a number of people across the country.
Statistics indicate that about 386,000 people have been affected driven from the former assessments conducted in 18 of the 27 counties reportedly squeezed by floods according to UN OCHA.
The tragedy raised attention of the natives living at the vicinity, civilians, political and military to organize for a fundraising session as a mechanism to mitigate the dire situation jeopardizing lives of the people in the State.
Speaking during the event, Dr. Riek Machar Teny suggested management of the water resources by the government to stop continuous flooding in areas which are allergic to water bodies.
“At the national level, we need to develop plans for how to control our water, the water in Bahr el Ghazal is our water,” he said. “We are not going to share it with anybody, but to control it, there is no dam and the area is not sterile but rather shallow,” he said.
The accumulated sum of money got from the fundraising activity was not disclosed to the people with reasons probably best known to the organizers of the program.
Last month, floodwater levels in the oil-rich state reportedly rose above 10 centimeters – a level measured in 2021.
However, the total amount raised on the Unity State fundraising occasion has not been announced to determine whether it was at the stage of deficit or surplus.