Nairobi. Heavy rainfall caused by the El Niño weather phenomenon has flooded large parts of Kenya. According to government figures, around 200 people have died so far. Many are still reported missing. Around 165,000 people have had to leave their homes. The heavy rains have been continuing for more than six weeks.
In the normally very dry north of the country, for example, Lake Turkana overflowed its banks and caused flooding. Many people had to leave their homes and lost their livestock in the masses of water. In the Marsabit district, Malteser International is therefore working with a local partner to distribute food and cash to those affected. This emergency aid is supported by the German Federal Foreign Office.
The aid is to be expanded, which is why Malteser International is urgently appealing for donations. "The people of Kenya have felt the effects of the climate catastrophe firsthand in recent years. First there was a long-term drought, now followed by flooding. In between, a plague of locusts destroyed the harvests. It is precisely the people who themselves have contributed little to global warming who are now suffering the most. It is our responsibility to provide support where people are already suffering from the consequences of our way of life in the Global North," says Daniel Bergfeld, Country Desk Officer for Kenya at Malteser International.
Malteser International has been working in Kenya since 2001, primarily in the health sector. Since 2011, the aid organization has also been working in the north of the country to better prepare the local semi-nomadic population for future periods of drought and increasingly frequent flooding.
Attention Editors:
You can download photos here.
Daniel Bergfeld, Country Officer for Kenya for Malteser International, is available for interviews and comments.
Contact: +49 (0)221 9822–7181, katharina.kiecol(at)malteser-international.org
The people of Kenya are in urgent need of donations.
Malteser Hilfsdienst e. V.
IBAN: DE10 3706 0120 1201 2000 12
S.W.I.F.T.: GENODED 1PA7
Keyword: "Kenya"
