Earth News: African DesertAug 30, 2006
Torrential rains have left at least 17,000 people homeless in the north and south of Niger, according to authorities who have appealed for urgent assistance.
The remote desert town Bilma in Agadez region, 1,500 km northeast of the capital Niamey has been hardest hit, according to a cabinet statement released on Tuesday. In this town alone, some 3,400 people from 675 families have been driven from their homes or watched them destroyed by flooding, the report said.
According to the Nigerien government Bilma has received some 63 mm of rain in recent days - equivalent to the total rainfall recorded there during the last 10 years.
Abba Mallam Boukar, governor of the Agadez region, said in a television interview on Wednesday that Bilma is experiencing a "catastrophe", and pleaded for assistance.
Disasters Elsewhere
THAILAND - Continuous rainfall had led to landslides damaging five homes and 2,000 rai of forest in Nan's Thung Chang and Chalermprakiat districts, prompting officials to evacuate locals to temporary shelters. The discovery of a 700 metre-long and 50-metre-wide crack in the ground in Chiang Klang district's Ban Kok village prompted local officials to evacuate 152 residents to temporary shelters in the Phu Wae National Park. In neighbouring Chiang Mai, the Mae Rim River had overflowed and inundated 70 houses. The weather bureau has warned of heavy rains over the next few days.
NEPAL - Heavy rain that has flooded western Nepal villages and left thousands homeless is not expected to relent for at least three weeks. Flooding in the southwest and landslides in the mountainous northwest have already killed at least 39 people and several more are reported missing.
