Relief agencies are struggling to help the some 18,000 displaced people in 17 makeshift camps in and around the central Nigerian city of Jos.
Most of the displaced do not have enough food and they lack access to toilet facilities and safe drinking water, Nigeria Red Cross (NRC) head Auwalu Mohammed told IRIN.
Local aid agencies and the state authorities say they were unprepared for the scale of destruction, he said.
The capacity of the Nigeria Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and NRC is overstretched, he said, adding that a lack of coordination among local relief organizations is hampering the humanitarian effort.
“There is no synergy between the organizations providing relief. We don’t have an avenue to coordinate the assistance we provide or to know what the needs of the IDPs are and which camps need what materials,” he told IRIN.
“Our resources are limited but if we could all harness our resources and coordinate our activities, we would enhance the assistance we provide these desperate people.”
As of 27 January 31 women had given birth in police stations and in the central mosque in the Jos neighbourhood of Bukuru, said local midwife Binta Hassan. Two of the babies have died.
Thousands of people fled violence that erupted in Jos on 17 January. Local authorities say 326 people died.
Though previous violence in Plateau State saw higher death tolls, an “unprecedented” number of residents were displaced this time because their houses were destroyed, according to Red Cross.
Local and international aid agencies, including ActionAid and Médecins Sans Frontières, are launching operations to help the displaced.
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Most of the displaced do not have enough food and they lack access to toilet facilities and safe drinking water, Nigeria Red Cross (NRC) head Auwalu Mohammed told IRIN.
Local aid agencies and the state authorities say they were unprepared for the scale of destruction, he said.
The capacity of the Nigeria Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and NRC is overstretched, he said, adding that a lack of coordination among local relief organizations is hampering the humanitarian effort.
“There is no synergy between the organizations providing relief. We don’t have an avenue to coordinate the assistance we provide or to know what the needs of the IDPs are and which camps need what materials,” he told IRIN.
“Our resources are limited but if we could all harness our resources and coordinate our activities, we would enhance the assistance we provide these desperate people.”
As of 27 January 31 women had given birth in police stations and in the central mosque in the Jos neighbourhood of Bukuru, said local midwife Binta Hassan. Two of the babies have died.
Thousands of people fled violence that erupted in Jos on 17 January. Local authorities say 326 people died.
Though previous violence in Plateau State saw higher death tolls, an “unprecedented” number of residents were displaced this time because their houses were destroyed, according to Red Cross.
Local and international aid agencies, including ActionAid and Médecins Sans Frontières, are launching operations to help the displaced.
aa/aj
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
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