The number of deaths carried away by water or other causes amounts to 550, as well as some 210,000 houses were wiped from the face of the Earth by the force of torrents, always according to information collected in this capital.

The total number of people affected by the floods in this rainy season, which should end this month, amounts to 1,900,000 of whom at least 85,000 are pregnant women, according to a summary completed by the UN Population Fund (UNFPA).

Other damage caused by rainfall and floods includes 42,000 hectares of cultivated land and some 72,000 head of livestock, devastating statistics for a country that declared a food and nutrition emergency last February.

Health authorities estimate that the damage is worse than what a pandemic could cause, due to overcrowding in unsanitary shelters and lack of clean water, leading to outbreaks of diarrhea, malaria, and skin and respiratory infections.

Faced with this dramatic situation, the Chadian government began to provide the victims with hygiene and protection, including the deployment of 248 midwives from humanitarian agencies to deal with the most urgent cases.

Chad is by no means alone in this tragedy; several countries in the western and central regions are going through similar hardships, based on the reports of their respective authorities.

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