Boots on the Ground – Ready to help in Emergencies

The town of Buea lies on the foot slopes of the gigantic Mount Cameroon. It stretches towards the Atlantic ocean where it meets with the beautiful seaside town of Limbe. Buea is known for its “legendary hospitality.” It is also the town where flashfloods and a mudslide killed two people, injured dozens and displaced hundreds last year.

Displacements are now a major cause and or trigger for hunger. Not just in the South West chief towns but also in the Far North region where predatory insurgency attacks and climate change have forced over 400,000 people to flee their homes. They flee in search of a better life as they have lost all other sources of livelihood. Basic needs like food, water and shelter become luxuries and without help, some of these people are almost certain of a devastating future.

“I fled my home with nothing but the clothes on my skin and the child on my back” recounts Sauratu, a woman recently displaced by conflicts along the Cameroon, Nigeria Border where Government is pushing back a Boko Haram incursion that has metamorphosed into Predatory attacks. She is among 3,000 women, men and children who have settled in Ngouma, Far North region. They receive a monthly ration from the World Food Programme (WFP) to cover for their food needs within the first three months of arrival.

“Those early days are usually the hardest. Without WFP’s support, I wonder how we would have survived,” says Hamisou, the spokesperson for displaced people in this make shift displacement camp. “Today, I received rice, split peas, vegetable oil and salt. It may not take me through the month, but I’m hopeful,” says Sauratu.

It is hard to find hope where emergencies or natural disasters occur. The flash floods in Buea came unannounced and swiftly too, but left a community in shock and despair and needing assistance. “I climbed to the roof of house and watched my Kitchen being swept away by the floods” a lady in Buea Town lamented. She lost her entire kitchen and all the food she had stocked. Within hours she was vulnerable and food insecure.

Thanks to its Emergency Response preparedness and innovative approach to delivering humanitarian assistance, WFP has been able to preposition support for many of the flashfloods and mudslide victims. Truckloads of food commodities have been transported to Buea and neigbouring towns to provide appropriate assistance. WFP is already supporting over 350,000 people displaced by conflict in the North West and South West regions with cash and in-kind food assistance.    

The World Food Programme in Cameroon has been responding to emergencies and meeting the food and nutrition needs of almost a million people living in Cameroon. Whenever an emergency arises, WFP prepositions for a response. The response is often what makes a difference, saving lives that could otherwise be lost.

WFP’s emergency response operations in the North West and South West regions, as well as the Far North region is possible thanks to the generous donations of Canada, the European Union, France, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, UNCERF, the United kingdom and the United States of America.