Burundi: Corpses Unearthed by Floodwaters Reburied

UN Mission in Burundi Reburies Corpses Unearthed by Floodwaters

New York, May 18 2006 5:00PM

Expressing his condolences to the families in Burundi whose loved ones were exhumed by torrential rainfall and floodwaters submerging a cemetery, the acting Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary General there said his staff had not only started repairing tombs, but would try to find the resources to deal with all aspects of the catastrophe.

“We have been able to observe the enormity of the damage caused by the flooding,” Nureldin Satti, who is also the acting chief of the UN Operation in Burundi (ONUB), told journalists accompanying President Pierre Nkurunziza’s entourage on a tour of the affected areas on Tuesday.

“ONUB has already started the engineering work at the Mpanda cemetery to cope with the situation within our means,” he said. “We intend to continue this work in coordination with the Government to see what we can do to mobilize the resources to deal squarely with this catastrophe, including disinfecting the cemetery.”

Torrential rainfall earlier this week caused rivers to overflow their banks.

Civil engineers from ONUB and the Government have been assessing the repairs and improvements needed in the short and long term, while the UN’s World Health Organization (WHO) has been taking precautions to head off any flood-related epidemic.

ENDS

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