Sokoto flood victims battle cholera, homelessness

There are reported cases of symptoms of cholera outbreak in three of the nine local government areas of Sokoto State affected by the recent floods. Internally-displaced persons (IDPs) taking refuge at various resettlement centres in the state said they are running short of potable drinking water in the camps and have had to resort to […]

There are reported cases of symptoms of cholera outbreak in three of the nine local government areas of Sokoto State affected by the recent floods. Internally-displaced persons (IDPs) taking refuge at various resettlement centres in the state said they are running short of potable drinking water in the camps and have had to resort to fetching water from streams and unkempt wells. The IDPs complain of regular vomiting and stooling, something which Dr. Frank Ogbeide, a visiting medical doctor on rescue mission said are clear symptoms of cholera.
The Permanent Secretary in the state Ministry of Health, Pharmacist Umar Attahiru said one person was reported dead from Sabon Birnin in the state as a result of stooling and vomiting, which they classified as gastro enteritis. He said experts from the ministry are analyzing samples collected to determine if it was a case of cholera. While experts from the ministry were analyzing the case reported from Issa Local Government Area, a second case was also reported to them for similar analysis.
A top official of Sokoto State government also said there is an outbreak of cholera in Goronyo Local Government Area of the state as a result of contaminated drinking water caused by the flood. The source who pleaded for anonymity said majority of the people affected died in the two resettlement centres in Goronyo town.
When Weekly Trust visited the two resettlement centres, the displaced people living at Goronyo Secondary School which is now housing over 6,000 of them said over five people have so far died in the camp as a result of vomiting and stooling emanating from the consumption of unclean water. Speaking in the midst of several other IDPs in the camp, Mallam Sani Tsaro said he was aware of the death of five people in the camp who complained of similar symptoms before they died.
“Mallam Nuhu’s wife died in this camp about six days ago,” he said. “We all attended her burial. She died of cholera just like the four others that died of the same cholera. All of them vomited and passed stool till they died. There were no health workers to attend to them in the camp. We had no any form of mobility to convey them to hospitals or give them any medication. We watched them die helplessly here in the camp. We buried them at the back of the school.”
At the second camp in Goronyo which used to be a 30-housing unit belonging to the local government council, Malama Fatima Abbas said four people died in the camp since she relocated to the place from an uncompleted building in which she was taking refuge after their village was submerged by the flood. Fatima said a two-year-old child was among the four people that died in the camp.
She said: “All the four people that died in this camp vomitted and passed stool simultaneously for several days before they died. We suspect the flooded water from the stream they were drinking as the source of their ailment. We have acute shortage of clean water in this camp. A water tanker from Goronyo local government supplies us water. But the water is not adequate for us to drink, cook, bath and wash. A good number of us go to the stream to fetch water.”  
Shortage of potable drinking water hit the state when the acting General Manager of the state water board, Alhaji Ahmad Moyi Tambuwal said that the supply of water to Sokoto and its environs had been suspended indefinitely following the total submerge of water treatment and pumping plants by the flood. He said the water pumping machines which were the only source of water supply to the state capital were submerged by water.
Hundreds of residents of Sokoto are seen carrying assorted containers and fetching water from the few boreholes in the town, wells and streams as all the taps in the town have since dried up. A twenty litre of water that cost about 10 Naira before the incident now cost between 50 Naira to 100 Naira depending on the area. However, Weekly Trust observed that there is improvement in the supply of water in the state as some parts of the state capital, Sokoto, have started getting direct water supply from the state water board.
Still at the second Goronyo camp, one of the female victims of the flood disaster taking refuge at the camp was delivered of a baby. The nursing mother, 17-year- old Hajara, who was in labour when the famous Goronyo dam broke its barriers and washed away her village, Kagaran Rima, said she was rescued from the flood by local volunteers from the village and taken to the Goronyo local government 30-housing units where she is now being camped along with several other victims of the disaster.
Hajara told Weekly Trust at the weekend when the Federal Commissioner for Refugees, Hajiya Hadiza Sani Kangiwa visited the camp to distribute relief materials to the flood victims that she delivered her baby few days after she arrived the camp. Hajara said though she and her baby were in good health, there was very limited attention paid to her by state officials in terms of medical care. She also complained of lack of adequate feeding for her and the baby.
Hajiya Hadiza who was in the state to distribute relief materials to victims of the flood made a personal cash donation of an undisclosed amount of money to the nursing mother and assured that both the Sokoto State government and the Federal Government were collaborating to address the hardships faced by the victims. She said she was in the state with some of her staff to assess the needs of the flood victims and the type of relief materials to be provided to the victims.