Schools closed over floods
Dec 03, 2006
SEVEN schools in Paya sub-county in Tororo district have been closed due to floods. This followed a Thursday assessment tour by the district leaders and the Uganda Red Cross Society (URCS) of the areas that were affected by floods.
By Daniel Edyegu
SEVEN schools in Paya sub-county in Tororo district have been closed due to floods. This followed a Thursday assessment tour by the district leaders and the Uganda Red Cross Society (URCS) of the areas that were affected by floods.
The floods, caused by the ongoing rains, have also displaced 295 families in Merikit and 528 in Paya sub-counties.
The families have pitched camp in health centres and churches.
The team led by the district chairman, Emmanuel Osuna, said the floods posed a health hazard to the displaced.
“We have agreed that students and pupils, who have not completed the examinations, should do them from drier places. Otherwise, there’s an eminent danger of a cholera outbreak in these areas.†Osuna said.
The affected primary schools are Pateo, Sere, Nawire, Paya, Sopsop, Paragang. Paya Secondary School was also flooded.
The team also recommended that traders in Paya trading centre relocate the market to avoid selling contaminated commodities.
The floods submerged the schools, sunk in pit latrines and washed away crops and houses.
Osuna said the floods had forced the district to suspend the three-month pit latrine campaign which started in October.
“We expected each household in the district to have a pit latrine by the beginning of next year, but we have put the exercise on hold. The soils have become soggy. We don’t want people to be buried by soil as they dig latrines during the sanitation campaign,†Osuna said.
He said he had communicated to area MPs to lobby support for the affected families.
The URCS Tororo branch coordinator, Winston Obeka, said he had written to the society’s headquarters in Kampala to help the affected families with relief items like food and bedding.
SEVEN schools in Paya sub-county in Tororo district have been closed due to floods. This followed a Thursday assessment tour by the district leaders and the Uganda Red Cross Society (URCS) of the areas that were affected by floods.
The floods, caused by the ongoing rains, have also displaced 295 families in Merikit and 528 in Paya sub-counties.
The families have pitched camp in health centres and churches.
The team led by the district chairman, Emmanuel Osuna, said the floods posed a health hazard to the displaced.
“We have agreed that students and pupils, who have not completed the examinations, should do them from drier places. Otherwise, there’s an eminent danger of a cholera outbreak in these areas.†Osuna said.
The affected primary schools are Pateo, Sere, Nawire, Paya, Sopsop, Paragang. Paya Secondary School was also flooded.
The team also recommended that traders in Paya trading centre relocate the market to avoid selling contaminated commodities.
The floods submerged the schools, sunk in pit latrines and washed away crops and houses.
Osuna said the floods had forced the district to suspend the three-month pit latrine campaign which started in October.
“We expected each household in the district to have a pit latrine by the beginning of next year, but we have put the exercise on hold. The soils have become soggy. We don’t want people to be buried by soil as they dig latrines during the sanitation campaign,†Osuna said.
He said he had communicated to area MPs to lobby support for the affected families.
The URCS Tororo branch coordinator, Winston Obeka, said he had written to the society’s headquarters in Kampala to help the affected families with relief items like food and bedding.