Kagera quake donation kitty soars to 15 billion/-

 

DONATIONS to support victims and restoration of infrastructure destroyed by the earthquake, which hit Kagera Region have reached 15.19bn/- as of last Sunday.

At the same time the government has rubbished recent attempts by some politicians to mislead the public that nothing has been done to assist the affected people. 

 

The Permanent Secretary (PS) in the Prime Minister’s Office (Parliamentary Affairs), Mr Uledi Mussa, revealed yesterday that initial assessment of the tremor indicates that a total of 104.9bn/- will be required to restore the situation in the hit areas.

The earthquake with a magnitude of 5.9 on the Richter scale hit the Lake Zone, particularly Kagera Region, on September 10 at about 3:00pm. A total of 17 people lost their lives while 560 others were injured. It devastated the infrastructure, destroying houses, schools, hospitals, roads and other social amenities.

In a statement issued yesterday, the PS explained how the government and other well-wishers had strived to provide moral and material support to the victims, expressing concerns on misleading statements by some section of the politicians.

A breakdown of the donations showed that cash amounting to 5.412bn/- has been deposited in a bank account opened for the purpose while 17.579m/- came in form of mobile phone cash transfers – in addition to pledges amounting to 6.703bn/-.

Mr Mussa further explained that some donors such as the United Kingdom, which had pledged 6bn/-, will directly channel the funds to the construction of schools after a cost assessment by the Tanzania Building Agency (TBA).

“So at present, the amount of cash and pledges have reached 12.133bn/-. The government has also received material support worth 2.25bn/-, including 58.12 tonnes of maize flour, 1,150 sacks of sugar and 133.96 tonnes of rice.

The PS noted as well that a total of 969.238bn/- had been spent as of November 13, in addition to 17,423 bags of cement, 5,348 iron sheets and 1,107 kilogrammes of nails to undertake major and minor repairs on primary and secondary schools in the affected areas.

“This is apart from provision of food items and other humanitarian aid which is still being provided to the victims, the refurbishment of schools enabled students to continue with their studies,” he explained.

According to an appraisal by experts, funds amounting to 41.7bn/- will be required to rehabilitate 16,667 houses whilst a total of 12.7bn/- for 163 primary schools and 45.65bn/- for 57 secondary schools.

This as well includes 772m/- for refurbishment of 32 health centres and 1.3bn/- for 20 buildings of various public institutions. On items received, the PS remarked; “The food items also included 19.666 tonnes of beans, 70.1 tonnes of maize, three tonnes of tea leaves, 1,570 dozens of bottled drinking water, 6,022 litres of edible oil and 443 dozens of soap.

“Through cooperation with stakeholders, the government has and is still providing support to victims of the earthquake.

All the 560 people who were injured were provided with medical care by the government. In addition, the government provided a consolation of 1.8m/- for each family of the 17 people who were killed.

The Prime Minister, Mr Kassim Majaliwa, represented the government at the burial,” he explained.