World Vision helps the displaced in Albania’s flooded northwest
Since the onset of flooding World Vision has been partnering with the government, churches and other partners to evacuate people from the flooded areas where it works and also provide food and water to hundreds of people over the past three days.
I am sick and I don’t know if I can take care of my children during these hard timesAccording to the latest official data, 12,000 Shkodra residents have been recently evacuated from the flooded area and more than 14,000 hectares of agricultural land covered with water. More than 3,000 houses have been flooded and another 5,000 are isolated by water.
“My house was totally inundated,” said Mimoza, 31, mother of three children. “We don’t have anything left. I am sick and I don’t know if I can take care of my children during these hard times,” she said with tears in her eyes.
“Our house is flooded. We have nothing, nothing,” said Marjeta, 39, who found refuge in one of the shelters in the city. “Through this chaotic situation I am only thankful that my children and my family got out alive and well.”
Most of the families have now been evacuated by the government to other facilities and while they are safe and dry they lack the basic necessities such as food and clean water. The hygienic situation of these temporary residences is critical because families left their homes without hygienic items and proper clothes.
“We lack clothes and food for babies,” claimed Marieta.
“World Vision has been trying to support people in their immediate need– now we are focusing on the bigger needs that the people, especially displaced children, face,” said Edmond Qokaj, Humanitarian Emergency Affairs Coordinator for World Vision in Albania.
“We will focus more on offering health support for the children, such as providing hygiene sets and establishing Child Friendly Spaces for displaced children,” added Mr. Qokaj, explaining that children lack safe and comfortable spaces in which to play.
“I tell my children not to play in the hallways because they can get sick,” said Mimoza of the cold shelter in which they are currently living.
One of the main purposes of World Vision in this emergency situation is to make sure that the children have the right psychosocial helpWorld Vision, through Child Friendly Spaces, aims to give children the opportunity to be involved in activities that will help them to cope with the traumatic experience of seeing their homes inundated with water and losing many of their possessions. These safe spaces will also give the children the chance to learn by playing, especially now that the schools are closed.
“One of the main purposes of World Vision in this emergency situation is to make sure that the children have the right psychosocial help,” concluded Mr. Qokaj.
Other areas in Albania have also been affected by the heavy rains. In one of the villages of Librazhd Area Development Programme (ADP), where World Vision works in northwest Albania, the unprecedented rainfall has resulted in a massive landslide that buried 12 houses and placed another 40 at risk. Some of the 50 displaced people, including women and children, have received support by World Vision in the form of food and blankets.
The high water level has damaged the embankments of a river in Lezha, close to Shkodra, forcing hundreds of residents of the ADP to be evacuated to the homes of relatives in safer places.
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