Fifteen victims affected by landslides and floods in West Pokot County were yesterday discharged from Kapenguria County referral hospital while two others were still recuperating at Moi teaching and Referral hospital, Eldoret.
The 15 who have been receiving treatment at Kapenguria County Hospital were discharged in a ceremony graced by the area governor, Prof. John Lonyangapuo.
The governor said that burial arrangements for the victims who lost their lives would start early next week adding that thereafter, they would move to phase two of resettling displaced families.
Some development partners have responded with their donation and on Monday, Kenya Commercial Bank donated a cheque of Sh.6 million for the purchase of iron sheets for the affected families.
During the disaster 43 people lost their lives, more than 4, 000 displaced and three camps have been set at Nyarkulian, Parua and Paroo.
The governor further cautioned politicians against politicizing the donations to the affected people in the County.
Julius Kedisha a teacher who was affected said that seven people lost their lives in his village and he was now happy after his two children were going back home after successful treatment.
“We lost everything at Nyarkulian village. All crops on the farms were swept away. Houses and livestock too. The area is now inhabitable because houses were covered during the landslide,” he said
The Development partners have continued to give out their donations. Rift Valley Water Works Development Agency led by the Board Chairman, Asman Kamama on Tuesday donated 75, 230 litres and 55,000 litres water tanks, 20,000 aqua guard tablets for purifying water for domestic use and 30 cartons of sanitary towels.
Kamama assured the victims of the Agency’s physical and moral support, saying those affected must be assisted to return to normalcy.
“I know life is not the same again, some of you have lost loved ones, sole breadwinners and others witnessed their entire earthly belongings being swept downstream in a second. Kindly, trust in God and everything will be fine,’’ he told them.
The UNHCR Kakuma in conjunction with Tegla Loroupe Peace Foundation lead by Bernard Rono, Senior Project Associate UNHCR and Peace Ambassador, Tegla Loroupe donated 1, 600 blankets, 500 jericans, 2, 000 mosquito nets and several boxes of soap among other items.
He said they targeted women and children who were in camps suffering from pneumonia because they were most affected as the area is very cold.
“We have brought blankets, jericans, sleeping mats, mosquito nets, soap, sanitary towels and kitchen utensils. Our response is all about humanitarian support we are not aligned to any politician or political party and we do not expect our donation to be used by politicians for political mileage,” said Rono.
The Peace Ambassador thanked the partners who came out to support victims and called on the government to speed up reconstruction of roads in the area for accessibility.
She said victims were in dire need of help, and leaders from West Pokot County needed to put their political differences aside and be in solidarity with the ones sleeping in the cold.
“We have the donations but we can’t reach the people living at Parua and Paroo camps because there is no road linking that place. The areas were cut off,” she said.
By John Saina
