43 die in Benin floods: UN
By DPA, IANSTuesday, October 19, 2010
GENEVA - At least 43 people have died in flooding that has left more than two-thirds of the West African nation of Benin underwater, the UN said Tuesday.
Elisabeth Byrs, a spokeswoman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Geneva, said some 360,000 people have been affected, with almost 56,000 houses flooded.
Just under 100,000 people have been left homeless as water covered more than 76,500 square km of the 110,000 square km nation, OCHA said.
Heavy rains led rivers to burst their banks in early October, inundating 42 of the nation’s 77 municipalities.
At least 800 cases of cholera have been reported, leading to seven deaths, and there are fears that the epidemic will spread through contaminated water supplies, OCHA said.
OCHA said it has requested $8 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund for food aid, emergency shelter and sanitation.
The World Food Programme is preparing to distribute hundreds of tonnes of food and cooking oil, while other agencies have been handing out tents, tarpaulins and blankets, OCHA said.
