Windstorm destroys IDP shelters in Borno, injures 19

Internally displaced persons in Ngala Local Government Area of Borno State have suffered a setback in their attempt to piece their lives after a windstorm flattened their camp on Wednesday.

Beyond destroying the makeshift shelters accommodating hundreds of IDPs, the windstorm left 19 IDPs injured, the Commissioner of Police in Borno State, Damian Chukwu, said on Thursday.

“Gamboru Ngala Division recorded an incident where at about 15: 30 hrs yesterday (Wednesday) at the Arabic International School IDP Camp, Ngala, over 300 units of tents and other valuables were destroyed by a heavy windstorm,” a statement by the police boss read.

According to Chukwu, no life was lost and the injured are being treated at the camp clinic”.

Ngala, located in the east-central area of Borno, is one of the LGA’s most affected by the Boko Haram insurgency and had more than 100,000 internally displaced persons at the height of the insurgency.

It was one of the LGAs occupied by Boko Haram in 2014, before being liberated by the Nigerian Army.

Despite being liberated, the LGA which is close to the border between Nigeria and Cameroon has remained a target for insurgents with a suicide blast killing more than 10 persons in January this year.

Images from the Arabic International School IDP Camp in the aftermath of the windstorm show tents and property strewn all over the place.

In one of the pictures a mother with a baby strapped on her back stand in the ruins of what has been her shelter after she was forced to flee from terrorists.

The Spokesperson of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Samantha Newport, said there are about 90,000 IDPs currently living in the two IDP camps in the LGA.

She added that about 400 shelters were destroyed by the storm with over 2,500 IDPs affected.

“This kind of storm is something, obviously, we are going to see more of. In fact, we’ve already had a few of these. We are aiming to rebuild the structures and address some of the challenges that we face,” she said.