THE Delta State Government said it has recorded 22 new born babies at the various internally displaced persons (IDP) camps across the state.
Chairman of Delta Inter-ministerial Flood Management Committee, Chief Patrick Ukah, who disclosed this in Asaba, the state capital, said the state was grateful that there had not been many deaths in the camps.
“We thank God that we didn’t have so many deaths and we had a lot of deliveries, up to 22 babies, in the different camps,” Ukah said.
He said that the losses recorded by the state would have been catastrophic but for the fact that it was proactive.
He said: “We started our sensitization very early and we had stakeholders’ engagement with traditional rulers, community leadership, school and everybody that we needed to meet.
“Many people responded by moving away from the low planes, but as expected, some people who hold some traditional beliefs held on to their ancestral homes.
“But through our proactive action, the Ministry of Environment was directed to open up the canals leading to the Niger River and DESOPADEC was also handy in this regard as they opened up cannals around their own operational areas.
“We were able to set up four camps by DESOPADEC and eight camps by the state government and we had about 21,000 IDPS in those eight camps and over 17,000 in areas where DESOPADEC set up their own IDP camps.”
He said the South and Central Senatorial Districts were most impacted by the flood but thanked God the state government was able to move the affected victims to the IDP camps.
He commended the private sector response to the flood disaster, assuring that the state government would soon publish the names of the private sector donors in a full page advertorial in the newspapers for the state to appreciate them individually.
“Now that the water has started receding and we have started planning their exit, by the grace of God, we will do whatever it takes to assist them to get back to normal life irrespective of whatever they must have lost to the flood.
“Yes, we recorded some deaths and we are still compiling. But we recorded one death at Onne Camp and it had nothing to do with the flood. It was basically from the personal illness that the person had before now.
“In Patani, some travellers lost their lives while travelling on the Port Harcourt-Bayelsa Road, while four deaths were recorded in Isoko and one in Ugbolu.
“Apart from these deaths, our camps remain very active, and by the grace of God, we have continued to keep them very happy and we hope to continue doing so until we come to the end of camp, which by the grace of God is in sight,” Ukah stated.
He said the loss associated with flood was unquantifiable, adding that the state government was yet to receive any money from the federal government other than some relief items from NEMA.
He said the NIMET flood projection for 2023 would be bigger than that of 2022 and called on the Federal Government to consider dredging the River Niger and Benue as well as building holding dams to cushion the effect of flooding in the country.