Citizens in Atar County of South Sudan’s Central Upper Nile State are experiencing shortages of food and drugs, a local official said.
Speaking to Radio Tamazuj on Tuesday, the county coordinator, Mony-Ngok Abel Arop said local residents are suffering due to the severe floods that hit the area last year.
He pointed out that the locals are surviving on tree leaves for food, complaining that the situation has become unbearable in the county.
According to the local official, humanitarian organizations distributed food rations in August last year but it was inadequate for the population displaced by the floods.
Close to 1 million people in many parts of South Sudan were directly affected by flooding that destroyed 73,000 metric tons of potential harvests and wiped out tens of thousands of cattle and goats on which people depend for survival.
In October 2019, President Salva Kiir declared a state of emergency in Bahr el Ghazal, Greater Upper Nile and Greater Equatoria because of the floods, calling for international assistance to be stepped up.