At least 720 people in Kobuya location in Wang Chieng ward have been forced camp at Kobuya Primary School for the past week after they were displaced by floods.
Some of the destruction include collapse of houses and damage to roads and crops. Water has also covered grass and other vegetation, depriving livestock pasture.
“We’re undergoing a lot of challenges from lack of food to exposure to diseases. Elected leaders have not come to our aid,” Teckler Tabu, 77, said.
The displaced people claimed that since setting up camp in the school, they had not received any assistance from well-wishers. Before, well-wishers would bring supplies like food, medicine, blankets, and mosquito nets.
Families that are dispaced bring some clothes and sleeping mats with them as they wait for the water to recede.
Women with small children have the hardest time as only a few have mosquito nets.
“Many of the people in the camp are vulnerable. They are minors, women and elderly persons like me, hence, they urgently need help,” Tabu said.
The locals petitioned the government to solve the flooding issue in 2019.
In the petition they requested that government organizations to construct dykes and plant trees along the River Miriu to prevent flooding.
The community submitted a petition to the National Assembly through Fredrick Gaya, and the Committee on Environment paid a visit to examine the issue. The government recommended construction of dykes but is yet to implement it.