By Philip Buda Ladu
Cabinet on Thursday endorsed a memo requesting President Salva Kiir to declare a “State of Emergency” in flood-affected states.
This came in an Extraordinary Council of Ministers meeting on Thursday where the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs presented a memo on the impact of the floods across the country.
Deputy National Minister of Information, Jacob Maiju Korok, addressed the media, confirming the cabinet’s actions.
He noted that the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management, Hon. Albino Akol Atak, presented a memo detailing the severe impact of the floods in South Sudan, which have devastated communities, displaced people and animals, and destroyed essential infrastructure.
He explained that declaring floods a national disaster or state of emergency means mobilizing some resources from the donors to rescue the citizens from the impacts of natural calamities.
According to Humanitarian Minister Mr. Akol, as of October 1, 2024, the floods have impacted 772,000 people across South Sudan’s 38 counties and Abyei Administrative Area, with a population of 198,000 people verified as displaced people (IDPs).
The flood also destroyed schools, hospitals, and other important infrastructure in the states.
Although the government said it was jointly responding to the floods with its partner in the affected areas and states across the country, the situation still looks dire.
Akol maintained that there is a possibility of the floods peaking in November 2024.
“So the minister of humanitarian affairs and disaster management requested the council of ministers to recommend to H.E. President Salva Kiir Mayardit a declaration of a national disaster due to floods in the affected states like Jonglei, Upper Nile, Unity State, Warrap, Northern Bahr el Ghazal, and Abyei Special Administrative Area,” he told reporters on Thursday.
Now with the cabinet unanimously passing and endorsing the memo on the declaration of floods, national disaster president Salva Kiir Mayardit will be expected to declare a “State of Emergency” on floods anytime from now.”
“By declaring a national disaster, you actually mobilize some resources from the donors to support the citizens in the national disaster,” Akol lamented.