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DILI, Timor-Leste – Forty-two deaths. Dozens missing. More than 10,000 newly homeless. Impassable roads. Power blackouts. Rescue attempts requiring excavators and cranes. This is the devastating aftermath for Timor-Leste, an island nation already battling COVID-19, after being hit with torrential rains from Tropical Cyclone Seroja. The downpour caused landslides and the worst flooding in four decades.
The Government, with support by United Nations agencies including UNFPA and development partners, is leading the humanitarian response.
“I have never seen such destructive floods in my life,” said Anna Dos Santos, 39, a mother of seven who lived in the mountainous area of Lemonara in the capital city. When the main bridge was damaged, she had to wait three days before receiving any help.
DILI April 08, 2021 Humanitarian workers continued rescue missions Wednesday in remote locations in Timor-Leste using excavators and cranes, as death toll from recent flash floods reached 42, even as many are still reported missing by local authorities.
Families relied on the generosity of their neighbours to seek temporary shelter in the few houses left standing after the devastating floods and landslides that affected an estimated 10,000 people in the island nation.
Impassable roads and power black-outs that engulfed the country hindered relief efforts.
Anna Dosantos Lucia, a 39-year-old mother of seven from Lemonara in Dili, currently hosted at Balide catholic parish hall – one of the 19 evacuation centers set-up by the Government of Timor-Leste to help those affected by the floods had to wait more than three days to get help from authorities.