By Matik Kueth
At least 30,000 people were displaced by devastating floods in Koch County, Unity State, in September 2024, according to the County’s Relief and Rehabilitation Commission Director, Guong Chatiem.
Speaking to King News on Monday, Chatiem revealed that 36,285 individuals were officially registered as flood victims following the disaster, which submerged all nine Payams in the region. Residents from affected areas, including Meer-Meer, Pakor, Ngoany, Noorkor, Koar, Jaak, Kuaclual, Bouw, and Tor-rial, were forced to flee their homes as floodwaters overwhelmed the county.
Koch County residents displaced by the flooding in September [Photo Credit: Matik Kueth, King News]
Chatiem stated that they have reported the issue to the UNOCHA office and the state government, but they have not received any response back yet.
“Yes, we have reported those issues to the UNOCHA and the government state level. We are waiting for the feedback from them. And we are not yet to get,” he stated.
He emphasized that although people had relocated to higher ground, they were still confronted with many difficulties, such as a scarcity of drugs, food shortages, and malnourishment among women and children.
“People have moved to the higher grounds. So, in those higher grounds, they are sitting under the trees. There are a lot of cases happening here. We have a case of Malaria that has killed a young child. There’s malnutrition in the Area both women and children. And there’s shortage of medicine and food,” he explained.
Koch County is one of the counties that had been awfully affected by flooding since 2021. Thousands of people are homeless as a result of the flooding and had to relocate to higher land for safety.
Many have become penniless as a result of the four years of floods that has devastated the entire state, leaving them without anything and with all of their cattle dead.