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NEWS > EVERYONE ELSE > 100 DEAD IN LEAST DESTRUCTIVE TRAGEDY TO HIT NIGERIA THIS YEAR
100 DEAD IN LEAST DESTRUCTIVE TRAGEDY TO HIT NIGERIA THIS YEAR
September 3 2011
Abuja, Nigeria – More than 100 people have died as a result of a dam collapse in south western Nigeria. The damn broke its banks after a massive rainfall earlier in the week, breaking the walls and sweeping away homes and people in the small village of Ibadan. The disaster is the lowest death toll in the country for any major event this year.
“We are in the midst of rescuing people from the damaged region and assessing the damage costs. It is quite wet there and so it is difficult to assess exactly what is going on there but our casualty total is in the neighbourhood of 100 people, which is quite good in this country,” said a spokesperson for the government. “We are still in the process of assessing who is alive and who is dead. There are a number of missing people but that is common in the country. We will have a more accurate count sometime in the future.”
Bridges and water channels were also destroyed in the disaster. About 1500 people are in shelters. Thousands have been displaced as a result of the flooding.
“We are moving people to the scene and determining what type of aid is needed to secure the lives which haven’t been lost. These are our priority at this stage, the people who haven’t died as we have a stronger chance of keeping them alive a lot 
longer than those who have already passed on,” continued the spokesperson. “Following that, we will assess what needs to be done to rebuild the area and secure the dam so that it is able to survive a few more years. We cannot have this type of thing coming again so quickly. We will build new walls, it is much more economical to do this than to do this type of cleanup.”
If the total holds, it will be the lowest death toll thus far in 2011. The number is actually the lowest since 2007.
“It’s really sad to see things like this happen, but at least there’s a bright side to the whole thing. It shows that officials in the country have started to understand the value of infrastructure and disaster response in a very real way, and that is likely what kept the total here so low,” said Scrape TV African analyst Claude Contee. “Hopefully this is the start of a trend, of a new way of doing things. That would be great for the people of Nigeria but also others in Africa should they decide to follow the example. This could reduce death tolls all across the continent.”
Amongst other things, the government has worked with the Red Cross to provide blankets and drinking water to the displaced, something which has never happened in the past.
“By responding to these events lives were saved. That is the simple fact of the matter. And it’s also important to note that they responded in a very effective way, with care and compassion. In the past they would have moved soldiers in and started shooting the injured but that didn’t happen here which has likely contributed to the low death toll,” continued Contee. “I would like to hope that this type of thing will continue throughout the country and the continent when these types of disasters occur in the future but I think that may be wishful thinking. It is very hard to beat new tricks into an old dog.”
It’s not clear if any dogs were rescued from the flood waters.
Emil Uliya, International Correspondent
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