NDMA supports over 600 disaster-prone households in KM

Each affected household received D9,000 alongside non-food items to support their families.

A total of 2,650 affected households are expected to benefit from the NDMA’s assistance package, officials said.

This fund came through a project dubbed: ECOWAS Post -Flood Recovery Project Non-Food items and Cash Assistance for 2022 flood victims.  This project was funded by EOWAS and implemented by NDMA and Catholic Relief Services CRS in The Gambia.

According to NDMA’s Executive Director Sana Dahaba, The Gambia government secured US$603,616 an equivalent of D41 million from ECOWAS to support affected household victims in 2022.

The Executive Director revealed that out of the total D41 million dalasis allocated for Gambia to mitigate affected flood, 27 million has been spent so far on cash assistance to the directly affected flood victims and other expenses during a nationwide data assessment.

He further revealed that D10 million was spent to purchase non-food items, while D27 million was spent on cash transfer, making it a total of D37 million.

He cited that this project is still ongoing and that the NDMA is committed to supporting affected flood victims countrywide.

Mr. Dahaba hailed the government for providing the enabling environment for disaster governance and management in the country.

He recalled that in 2022, there was a devastating flood which affected over 50,000 people and over 7,000 households. He said when this happened, he recalled, the government of The Gambia reached out to development partners like AU, French Development Agency and ECOWAS to mobilise resources to support the affected flood victims, resulting in the allocation ofD41 million.

According to Mr. Dahaba, the project initially was to support 2,650 affected households in The Gambia but because of the savings generated over time, now the project is expected to support over three thousand affected households countrywide, adding that the support will put smiles on the faces of the affected flood victims.

Mr. Dahaba advised the affected victims to utilise the monies provided to them by helping their families. He also stated that this year’s assessment is ongoing and when completed, NDMA will reach out to the government to see how to mobilise resources to support the affected victims.

The NDMA boss further assured of the government's firm commitment to support affected flood victims in the country.