Energy News  
Ethiopia flood toll rises, rescuers seek hundreds missing

by Abraham Fisseha
Addis Ababa, Aug 7, 2006
== ATTENTION -quotes /// Rescuers clawed through mud and debris with their hands, garden tools and heavy equipment in eastern Ethiopia on Monday, searching for hundreds of people missing after lethal flash floods.

While relatives began identifying known fatalities of weekend flooding in and around the provincial town of Dire Dawa -- estimated to number at least 200 -- police said some 300 others remained unaccounted for, with many feared drowned.

"Family members have started burying the dead," said regional police Inspector Beniam Fikru. "In some cases, it is very difficult to identify them."

"Relatives are reporting that around 300 people are missing, but the search goes on," he told AFP by phone from Dire Dawa, about 500 kilometers (300 miles) east of Addis Ababa.

In the capital, an official with Ethiopia's federal Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Office said the death toll, which local authorities put at 191 late on Sunday, had climbed to more than 200.

"We don't have the exact number right now, but it has become clear that the death toll has exceeded 200," the official told AFP on condition of anonymity as he prepared to leave Addis Ababa to visit the affected area.

At least 39 of the dead are children under the age of seven, according to Dire Dawa regional police commissioner Getachew Asres.

Residents said they were using bare hands, hoes, trowels, shovels as well as bulldozers and other earth-moving equipment to dig through sand, mud and rubble in search of bodies or people still alive.

Aid workers said up to 3,000 people were left homeless by the waters from the swollen Dechatu and Dire Dawa rivers which broke their banks overnight Saturday, sweeping through the town and nearby villages, killing many while they slept.

They said the casualties were mainly women and children unable to escape from poorly constructed shacks along the river's banks and that entire families might have drowned although there were hopes some might have made it to higher ground.

"I was in bed when I heard people shouting," 45-year-old survivor Abaye Baheru told AFP on Sunday. "I opened the door, the water burst in, forcing me to escape to the rooftop ... but my house and property were destroyed.

"While on the rooftop, I saw men, women and children being washed away while crying for help," he said.

The floods in the Addis Ketema, Genfele, Coca Cola and Aftessa districts caused massive property damage, destroying hundreds of homes, trading stalls and cutting a key road linking the town to Addis Ababa, they said.

In addition, the waters brought down electricity and telephone lines, further complicating rescue efforts in an area in Ethiopia's lowlands that is prone to flooding during the June-to-September rainy season, they said.

Last year, at least 200 people were killed and more than 260,000 displaced when heavy rains pounded the region, flooding rivers that quickly attracted large numbers of crocodiles and forced survivors to cling to trees to escape.

Over the last several years, flooding has affected large areas of eastern and southern Ethiopia, displacing tens of thousands of people and causing damage worth millions of dollars, particularly to agriculture.

The floods follow a devastating drought that hit the east Africa region, threatening the lives of about 15 million people in five countries, including Ethiopia and neighboring Somalia and Kenya.

Ethiopia, a nation of about 70 million people, has repeatedly been ravaged by natural calamities, notably drought and famine.

Community
Email This Article
Comment On This Article

Related Links
Bringing Order To A World Of Disasters
When the Earth Quakes
A world of storm and tempest



Memory Foam Mattress Review
Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News


French aid group to review Sri Lanka presence after bloodiest hit
Colombo, Aug 7, 2006
A French aid agency said Monday it would review its presence in Sri Lanka after 15 of its workers were found shot dead in the worst attack since its inception 25 years ago.







  • BP Pipeline Leak Closes Down Biggest US Oilfield
  • Korean Scientist Makes Crude Oil Into Fuel
  • Unaxis drives back into profit on solar panels and microchips
  • Challenging Conventional Wisdom About High-Temperature Superconductivity

  • New Check On Nuke Power
  • Swedish nuclear sector out of danger, but political fallout lingers
  • US Says New Pakistani Nuclear Reactor Not Very Powerful
  • Nuclear Plant Faced Possible Meltdown In Sweden

  • NASA Experiment Finds Possible Trigger For Radio-Busting Bubbles
  • California's Model Skies
  • ESA Picks SSTL To Develop Atmospheric CO2 Detector
  • Faster Atmospheric Warming In Subtropics Pushes Jet Streams Toward Poles

  • Debate Continues On Post-Wildfire Logging, Forest Regeneration
  • Malaysia And Indonesia Join Forces To Dampen Haze Problem
  • Fires Rage In Indonesian Borneo And Sumatra
  • WWF Warns Over Pulp Giant In Indonesia

  • Food-Crop Yields In Future Greenhouse-Gas Conditions Lower Than Expected
  • Acid rain in China threatening food chain
  • Farmland shrinkage in China threatens grain production
  • Brownfields May Turn Green With Help From Michigan State Research

  • Toyota To Expand Hybrid Car Range In US
  • Ford First To Offer Clean-Burning Hydrogen Vehicles
  • Smart Cars To Rule The Roads
  • Nano Replacement For Petroleum

  • US Sanctions On Russia Could Hurt Boeing
  • Boeing Puts Aircraft Market At 2.6 Trillion Dollars
  • Innovative Solutions Make Transportation Systems Safer Secure and Efficient
  • Joint Strike Fighter Is Not Flawed Finds Australian Government

  • Could NASA Get To Pluto Faster? Space Expert Says Yes - By Thinking Nuclear
  • NASA plans to send new robot to Jupiter
  • Los Alamos Hopes To Lead New Era Of Nuclear Space Tranportion With Jovian Mission
  • Boeing Selects Leader for Nuclear Space Systems Program

  • The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2006 - SpaceDaily.AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA PortalReports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additionalcopyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement