The challenges before residents now include overflowing pit latrines, soakaways, graveyards, industrial chemicals waste, and slaughterhouses which exacerbates the situation slaughterhouses risks among residents.
The catastrophic flood that submerged vast swaths of lands in Maiduguri, Jere and Mafa Local Government Areas recently has led to a colossal loss of lives. Authorities in Borno state involved in the life-saving business estimate that scores may have perished inside the raging flood water which is yet to recede completely. However, more than half of the previously flooded areas have dried up now.
Accurate figures of mortality remain elusive as recovery efforts are ongoing with dead bodies still being retrieved from the floodwaters which are said to have displaced nearly 2 million residents rendering them homeless and obliterating social and economic activities in the affected areas. Many homes were uprooted and destroyed completely in the trail of the water from the Alau Dam. As water levels recede, many homes have become equally uninhabitable.
Sadly also, the environment they are returning to has become dangerously contaminated with water sources posing as serious health risks. Clean drinking water is critical for survival, but these people have no other options but to tap from exposed and contaminated wells and bore holes.
These are the post-flood risks awaiting boredom, overcrowded and unhealthy environments doted by the lack of serenity of many temporary camps. Health experts raising the possibility of disease outbreaks such as cholera.
