BY STAFF REPORTER
BULAWAYO and Victoria Falls residents have made an overwhelming response to a call for donations to people displaced by floods in Binga.
Hundreds of people were left homeless after flash floods destroyed 181 homes in 13 villages across the Nsungwali area of Binga on February 11.
The flash flooding, whic occurred in an area where four rivers converge in the Chizarira region, killed one person.
Food items, clothes and blankets, among many other donated items, are expected to be delivered to the flood victims today.
Christie Brookstein, from the Jafuta Foundation, which coordinated the donations with help from residents in Bulawayo and Victoria Falls, said they had been touched by the response to the appeal for help.
“I am most touched by the person who gave one pair of shoes, everything they had to give and one of our old staff members who sent newspapers for cigarette rolling for the elders,” Brookstein said.
Chief Siansali helped with the distribution of initial donations to the victims.
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“We don’t yet have a full list of helpers on the ground in Binga doing the distribution, but we would like to thank Tony Dubois for being the point person and Lodzi Hunters for the use of their 5 tonne 4×4 vehicle to reach remote locations, to the Binga district administrator and team who are coordinating,” Brookstein added. “This list will grow over the next few days, thank you in advance.”
According to the International Organisation for Migration, some of the flood victims had to walk about 7km to seek refuge.
Plans were being made to establish a temporary shelter for the displaced.
Hundreds of people were killed last year and thousands were displaced when Cyclone Idai hit some parts of Manicaland.
Some victims of one of the worst natural disasters to hit the country in recent memory were washed away by the flood waters into Mozambique and their bodies were never recovered. *See another story on SE 10
