30 December 2020
More than 27,000 families lost their homes in Niger in August 2020, following the violent floods, which hit the entire Sahel region.
By September, the Luxembourg Red Cross’ humanitarian teams had intervened to help the affected families. They provided emergency shelters, latrines and hygiene kits to 700 families in Niamey, 400 in Maradi and 200 in Tillabéri.
“Given that we have been working in Niger for a very long time, we were able to mobilise our teams immediately. We built partnerships with effective local players in the country, such as colleagues from the Nigerian Red Cross for example”, stated Prosper Zombre, chief of mission in Niger for the Luxembourg Red Cross.
“Without the support of Luxembourgish donors, the European Union and the Luxembourg Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, nothing would have been possible,” he added. In December 2020, the technical assistants of the Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations in Niger were able to go on site to the Niamey hippodrome, where they could see that the people affected by the disaster have been relocated.