Sierra Leone appeals for urgent help

FREETOWN — Sierra Leone’s president issued a desperate appeal for help, a day after flooding ravaged the country’s capital, killing more than 300 people and leaving hundreds more missing.

President Ernest Bai Koroma fought back tears and said the devastation was “overwhelming us”, as he toured Regent, one of the worst-hit areas.

“Entire communities have been wiped out,” Koroma said. “We need urgent support now.”

He also declared seven days of mourning across the country. It will start from Wednesday to next Tuesday, during which period all flags would be flown at half mast.

After the disaster, 35 workers of China Railway Seventh Group who work in the country were quickly mobilized and dispatched for the rescue, said Wang Bo, a Chinese worker. They brought two excavators to the rescue site.

As the city began to bury its dead, foreign governments began mobilizing aid, with Israel pledging to provide clean water, medicines, blankets and other essentials.

The UN said it was evaluating humanitarian needs in the country and that “contingency plans are being put in place to mitigate any potential outbreak of waterborne diseases such as cholera, typhoid and diarrhea”, according to spokesman Stephane Dujarric.

Heavy rains streaming down a hill in Regent triggered a landslide that engulfed homes three or four stories high, many of them built illegally.

Koroma toured Regent’s Connaught hospital and central morgue, which has been overwhelmed by bodies.

The government has promised relief to more than 3,000 people left homeless, opening an emergency response center in Regent.

The Red Cross said 600 people were still missing.

Red Cross official Nasir Khan said the death toll was around 300 on Tuesday, but a separate morgue assessment put the figure at 400.

Sulaiman Zaino Parker, a local official, said 150 burials took place on Tuesday and that many would be laid to rest in graves alongside victims of the country’s last humanitarian disaster, the Ebola crisis, in nearby Waterloo.

“We have started burying some of the mutilated and decomposed bodies. All the corpses will be given a dignified burial with Muslim and Christian prayers,” Parker said.

The graves would be specially marked for future identification, he added.

WANG BO / XINHUA Excavators of China Railway Seventh Group in Sierra Leone were dispatched to the rescue mission after a request by the local government. Two Chinese companies also sent more than 40 workers to join the rescue effort.