EDITORS CORNER

Many warnings have been issued regarding the floods in the North with indications being that the situation could be worse than in 2009.

However, little is being said or written about the floods, and the media that have to inform the nation about the extent of the disaster, seem to treat it as normal. The Emergency Management Unit in the Office of the Prime Minister is duty-bound to protect the population against natural disasters and to then take care of the victims. The Governors should be the first line of defence and source of help.

But they are strangely silent while tens of thousands of Namibians are directly or indirectly affected. Take the street vendors who are not able to do business and generate an income for their families. Another crisis ahead is that the mahangu harvest will suffer seriously and that means that many northerners will have little, if any, income and will need food-aid until the next season. Many businesses are surrounded by water and their turnover and profits will suffer.

Apart from that, they will have to repair the damage to their businesses and replace water-logged stock, while others are relocated and have to wait in tents for the rainy season to end. Those staying in Windhoek with houses in the North will also suffer when they cannot even reach their houses, while others have to spend money on their families in the North who are cut off from town like Oshakati or Ondangwa.

Vital information seems somehow get lost as the rest of the country is not informed enough about the dilemma of their fellow Namibians in the North. It seems little is done by Government and that people in the North have to rely on their own wits and resources.

Let us look critically into the handling of the flood emergency and pressure Government to deal pro-actively regarding the crisis. It is important that all of us must assist our northern brothers and sisters.