More flood aid flows into Sudan from Qatar & Ethiopia, as Egypt pledges assistance 

Three airplanes carrying Qatari and Ethiopian relief for the Sudanese affected by the recent floods have arrived in Khartoum on Tuesday as fresh official figures pointed that the number of the affected population has reached 23.000 people.

A family gathers their belongings in the courtyard of a home following heavy rains which destroyed the mainly mud brick houses in Omdurman, some 30 kilometers northwest of the Sudanese capital Khartoum, on August 13, 2013 (ASHRAF SHAZLY/AFP/Getty Images)

Two of the three planes were from Qatar in line with orders of Sheik Tamim Bin Hamad al-Thani and besides 80 tons of relief items were also carrying a search and rescue team.

The first Qatari plane was received by the humanitarian commissioner, Suleiman Abdel Rahman, Sudan’s ambassador to Qatar Yasser Khidir, police director Hashim Hussein, and the acting Chargé d’affaires at the Qatari embassy in Khartoum Jaber Al-Nuaimi.

The humanitarian commissioner praised the continuous support rendered by Qatar to Sudan, pointing that the situation is under control and there are no signs of a potential humanitarian risk.

“Qatar has always responded to any humanitarian disasters in Sudan, providing all the necessary services”, said the commissioner.

The Qatari aid includes 10 tons of rooftops covers, 18 tons of tents (400 tents), 9 water drainage pumps, 6 tons of blankets, and several tons of medicines and first aid materials.

The Ethiopian plane which landed at Khartoum International Airport on Tuesday carried 74 tons of tents.

Today the Egyptian interim president Adli Mansour phoned his Sudanese counterpart Omer Hassan al-Bashir to offer condolences on flood victims and announce that his country will dispatch four military aircrafts carrying aid.

The heavy rains and floods that hit different areas in Sudan in the past few days have lead to the death of at least 60 people and injured dozens as well as destroying thousands of homes. Many ordinary citizens voiced rage over poor preparations by the government and inadequate response to the floods.

More than half the victims, 84 000, are in the area around the capital Khartoum, said the UN’s Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

On Monday, the Civil Defense Council in the Nile state announced that 36 people were killed as a result of the floods and that 5,000 homes have collapsed either partially or completely. This has caused 1,600 families to be homeless, it added.

The Sudanese Red Crescent Society and the Commission for Voluntary and Humanitarian Work estimated last week that 98,500 people have been affected in Khartoum, River Nile, Blue Nile, North Darfur, South Darfur, Northern and Red Sea states between 1 and 4 August.

The states in Sudan that were most affected included Khartoum (56,000), River Nile (33,000), West

Kordofan (12,000), North Darfur (8,000), Blue Nile (6,000), Red Sea (3,000), Northern (1,000) and South Darfur (1,000).

Drainage is poor in the capital of Sudan, where even a little rain can cause flooding, but this year’s water surge was unusually severe.

Local officials said that ten people were killed last week including eight family members as in Sudan’s twin capital of Omdurman and thousands of homes were damaged.