Humanitarian organisation Gift of the Givers is assisting the over 10,000 people affected by flooding in the Northern Cape.
AFTER years of drought, the Northern Cape was hit by torrential rains that caused extensive flooding.
Floods in the Buffelsriver area this week destroyed roads, bridges and infrastructure, which resulted in approximately 10,000 residents from Kamiesberg, Nama Khoi, Richtersveld, Komaggas, Kleinzee, Buffelsrivier, Rooiwal and Vioolsdrif being affected.
It was also confirmed that five people have died.
The chairman and founder of the humanitarian organisation Gift of the Givers, Dr Imtiaz Sooliman, said this week that the Karoo Hoogland Municipality had also requested assistance for communities in Calvinia, Nieuwoudtville, Middelpos and Sutherland.
“Gift of the Givers has been in constant communication with the municipalities and disaster management in the various regions,” Sooliman said.
“They have requested humanitarian assistance from us and helicopters from the Northern Cape government and the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) to deliver aid to impassable areas.
“Our vehicles transporting blankets, new clothing, food, Genesis, a nutritionally enriched, ready-to-eat porridge, eeZee peanut paste, hygiene packs and bottled water are en route from Johannesburg and Cape Town to Springbok which will be used as our operational centre.”
Sooliman said the organisation has been extremely busy this year with multiple fires in Cape Town, floods in Mpumalanga, Gauteng, North West, Komani, Gqeberha and Port St John’s, a cholera outbreak in Hammanskraal and Vredefort, E coli-affected Makhanda and ongoing water deprivation in Adelaide, Bedford, Fort Beaufort and Alice.
Floods in the Western Cape and the landspout which took place in KwaZulu-Natal have also kept them busy
“Gift of the Givers has responded to every area, resulting in a major depletion of our supplies. We thank corporates and individual donors for their ongoing generosity,” Sooliman said.
