wfn.org | Flooding in Southern Mauritania Leaves Thousands Homeless

["Frank Imhoff" <FRANKI@elca.org>]

LWF: Some Areas Still Inaccessible

NOUAKCHOTT, Mauritania/GENEVA, 20 January 2002 (LWI) -- At least
10 people died and some 8,000 were rendered homeless after
excessive rains caused flooding in southern Mauritania.

The deaths occured in the Trarza region where about 2,000 people
had their houses destroyed, and hundreds of livestock drowned,
according to reports by the Lutheran World Federation (LWF)
Department for World Service (DWS) in Mauritania. Some 6,000
people were affected in the Brakna region.

Action by Churches Together (ACT), a network of churches and their
related agencies meeting human need worldwide through emergency
response, has issued USD 29,000 in rapid response funds to help
victims of the flooding.

The LWF/DWS Mauritania program has distributed blankets, clothes
and soap. Further assistance includes the provision of tents and
emergency kits to 250 of the most affected families, about 1,250
people, some of them in areas that were still inaccessible by
January 17.

Most poor people in southern Mauritania live in houses made of mud
bricks, and therefore cannot withstand continuous rain. The
Senegal River borders Brakna and Trarza in the south.

LWF/DWS began operating in Mauritania in 1974, initially
concentrating on relief and emergency assistance. Currently the
program's work in the predominantly Muslim country with some 2.5
million people includes rehabilitation and development. LWF/DWS
cooperates with the government, international organizations nd
several local and international non-governmental organizations.

(The LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in the
Lutheran tradition. Founded in 1947 in Lund (Sweden), the LWF now
has 133 member churches in 73 countries representing over 60.5
million of the 64.3 million Lutherans worldwide. The LWF acts on
behalf of its member churches in areas of common interest such as
ecumenical relations, theology, humanitarian assistance, human
rights, communication, and the various aspects of mission and
development work. Its secretariat is located in Geneva,
Switzerland.)

[Lutheran World Information (LWI) is the information service of
the Lutheran World Federation (LWF). Unless specifically noted,
material presented does not represent positions or opinions of the
LWF or of its various units. Where the dateline of an article
contains the notation (LWI), the material may be freely reproduced
with acknowledgment.]

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