NIGERIA: ACN launches appeal after floods devastate Maiduguri
Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) is appealing for help after catastrophic floods engulfed vast swathes of a city in northern Nigeria still reeling from militant Islamist attacks.
More than 200,000 people have been displaced from Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State, according to latest reports from Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency, and many others – including children – are missing.
ACN, which has long-standing close ties with the Diocese of Maiduguri, has reached out to leading project partners and has already signalled it will provide emergency relief.
ACN (UK) National Director Dr Caroline Hull, who visited Maiduguri earlier this year, said: “I am deeply concerned about how those I met will cope with this new tragedy alongside everything else they’ve been dealing with.
“The floods have had a catastrophic impact on the city and our heartfelt thoughts and prayers go out to all those who’ve lost homes, livelihoods and who are searching for loved ones.
“I was so touched by the warmth of the welcome I received from Bishop Oliver Dashe Doeme of Maiduguri and so many others – and they can be sure that ACN will stand with them and do everything it can to help.”
The charity has also launched a prayer appeal for Maiduguri, whose bishop is famed for his devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
The floods, thought to be the worst for 30 years, have partially submerged significant parts of Maiduguri city including St Patrick’s Catholic Cathedral.
Thousands of properties including farmland, housing and commercial premises have been destroyed.
The flooding resulted from the collapse of the Alau Dam, about six miles upstream from Maiduguri.
Flood waters are reported to have killed more than 80 percent of the animals at Sanda Kyarimi Park Zoo and crocodiles and snakes are said to have escaped into the local community.
For more than a decade, the region has been a project priority area for Aid to the Church in Need.
The charity has provided ongoing emergency and pastoral help across Maiduguri Diocese in response to the Boko Haram Islamist insurgency which devastated the region.