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People in Uganda are wondering --- are these rains a repeat of the EL NINO rains agin ?

http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/9/183/585617  -  Floods to get worse

http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/9/183/585618   -  More rains + floods expected

http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/9/183/580709   - Floods in Kampala

 Imagine !!!!!   its

the floods destroying almost everything  -   http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/26/586278

Rolling Stones come with the rains    -   http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/26/586277

and its malaria/cholera outbreaks soon   -   http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/12/586321

and its malaria killing 320 pipo daily       -   http://www.monitor.co.ug/health/health09136.php

LOL - love that V!

The drainage system of our road infrastructure on ground in most parts of Ug is in dire need!   

How can so much concentration be placed on erecting beautiful mansions/structures when little effort is being placed on the drainage to support and maintain these structures?  Even man-hole covers remain missing from certain places dating all the way back to the ousting of Amin.  Usual story about persons who steal the covers to melt them away for financial profit is like a written mantra of those busy in office - has the possibility of cementing down these holes been considered?   Come to think of it - road repairs of corras roads left me speechless when pot-holes were filled up with marram, so perhaps that's a tall order!

Only until each Ugandan gets patriotic enough to care about the motherland and quits with the 'shawuri-yako attitude' of driving around in 'hammers' and especially those that carry on depositing sewage and rubbish in drain ditches, will we then see change in addressing primary concerns of the effects of floodings et al.

SB- When you think about it, the attitude has alwyas been if it's out there it does matter and  such the mansions have gone up with out the necessary drainage system.

Don't get me started on the Hummers or I wont shut up

 Imagine ! 

--- torrential downpours and flash floods across Africa have submerged whole towns and washed away bridges, farms and schools.

 I thought that the rain floods thing was only for some few countires like in East Africa, but now it is being said that even in West Africa the rains have brought floods, disaster and death . But mainly its because few Africa countires have the scientific equipment, the meteoroligical services, and those who have them only offer forecasting, lacking the staff and infrastructure to trackweather in the verye very remote areas.

http://www.comcast.net/news/international/index.jsp?cat=AFRICA&fn=/2007/09/15/764231.html

http://www.comcast.net/news/international/index.jsp?cat=AFRICA&fn=/2007/09/14/763632.html

Where is the planning for these and the future floods? 

Global warming is always at the forefront of such disasters however it's a thin line we tread with our need to catch up with the developed worlds.

In Africa because we always lack predominantly the economical means to address and plan for future settings, it is often a case that we will lag behind somewhat as more immediate 'hunger' is given priority.  I do however think that with the influx of many of our brothers/sisters in and around the continent of Africa, we will get better at being able to plan ahead to deal with such natural disasters in a cohesive manner as seen with other pandemics in the field of health.  Indeed even in some developed nations, they've been caught out by such disasters - how much more so given what we face in Africa?

 Sb -

 thanks for ua views on the rains and may be true that its a result of Global warming ......BUT!!!!

Iam reminded of the situation in Somalia and Ethiopia when the NGOs prepared themselves to bring in tents and foods and blankets etc due to the prolonged drought that had hit the Horn of Africa - and then from no where came the Rains and it was the beginning of the EL Nino rains and it brought a lot of pain and damage to the area that had not seen rain for years. And then we also experienced the El Nino in Uganda and thought we were ready for the next hit of ElNino , but WAPI? this time we have been taken unaware and the Governmnet doesnt want to admit that the east and parts of the north of the country should be declared disaster areas

Many Traders and School children have not been able to move and especially the school children are unable to cross from one place to the other let alone to go to the south for schools in kampala.

Floods:Schools stranded in the North 

- http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/12/587127

Minister says the peak of rains will be in in Mid September or October up to December -- that it is likely to get worse.

http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/13/586956

then what will happen to those kids about to sit for the UNEB - P7/PLE, and S4/UACE and S6/UACE UNEB Exams that are due October and November. And then it will be time for CHOGM by mid November abnd UNEB has planned to interrupt the Exams for about 10 days of CHOGM and resume the Exams after CHOGM, but will the kids go home and still come back for exams in these rainy floody days? CommonHey, Ministry of Education think twice and help the schools not get strikes due to redundancy by the kids , , , and think  the expense the boarding schools will go through to feed these kids for 10 days when there kids have no school -- is it Mid term when 2 weeks later the 3rd term is to end for the annual Dec-Jan Holidays?

I agree entirely with your take on lack of planning by the ministries at the forefront.  Within Ug however, all this goes back to the office of the president as he appears to be the only one capable of mobilising ministries to do what they ought to in the first place.  Much is placed on beauracratic wrangles over how to place the flower beds/pots along the streets which are to be passed by the guests attending CHOGM or even how many tycoons ought to get planning rights over which areas to build upon. 

Simply - priority is placed where those in leadership have their fingers waxed and yes whereas you and I will ponder and discuss preventative methods of avoiding effects of natural disasters, it's highly the case that the children of the elite are least affected so there goes our prolonged discussions on mobilising existing ministries.  Maybe, just maybe the sky will fall and crack open some of their brains to allow integrity to take hold - I live and hope.

What we can do is volunteer our services alongside existing persons within established NGOs that I've seen, on levels where we can and go work hand in hand with the ideologies we hold.  Formulating sister-parternships within communities we've adopted in the diaspora is one way forward...

Sugarbabes:

Ps. http://www.monitor.co.ug/news/news09201.php - thought you might be interested to note this article.

 MUSEVENI DECLARES STATE OF EMERGENCY FOR THE FLOOD HIT AREAS

SB - thanks for the article and the response.

Actually, one wonders why Govt took so long to accept that the situation is bad enough and warrants a declaration of state of emergency ....thats what happened to the pipo in the US with the Katrina hurricane --Presidenty Bush made the appeal rather late and now some two yrs later the pipo hit by the Katrina hurricane have not recovered from the heavy loss the met as a result of the hurricane. And what of Uganda? Shall we be able to come out of the rains, the floods, the mud, the disaster ,the destruction of homes,gardens, schools, towns and villages, etc and rebuild the nation especially the parts of the nation that have been hit hard by the rainy floods. ....as uzo waiting for a reponse from the Big International community

http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/12/587526

http://www.comcast.net/news/international/africa/index.jsp?cat=AFRICA&fn=/2007/09/20/768170.html

severe floods hit 17 african nations - its a complete disaster

http://www.comcast.net/news/international/africa/index.jsp?cat=AFRICA&fn=/2007/09/19/767547.html

 Yes its the effects of global warming and as some experts had earler predicted -- it will be the third world and Africa in particular that will be hit hardest by the serious effects of global warming. For sure no one has ever seen thse floods that serious may be till way way way back some time in 1962, or even much earlier as way back as 1900 when the floods forced the people to flee ares along the  shores of Lakes Albert, Edward, George and Kyoga. And now wait for more disaster along the shores of those lakes as the waters of the flooded areas and rivers will eventually pour angrily into the lakes and then the Nile river will damage West Nile and all the way up through Sudan and Egypt and finally into the Mediterranean sea. And the we shall have to battle with the serious or major outbreaks of epidemics like cholera, malaria and others as from Jan 08. As some one has said , we need to plant more trees to prevent soil erosion and thus in future give nature's mother land to contain the floods

Vision:

SB- When you think about it, the attitude has alwyas been if it's out there it does matter and  such the mansions have gone up with out the necessary drainage system.

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With gobal warming bringing climatic changes that have brought rains and foolds to much of Africa and destroyed crops and villages and schools and roads and bridges ...........

and now scientists fear that next could be the gobal warming and ice melting and causing  a big rise of up to 1 meter high in rising sea waters that are likely to flood much of the known world espsecially US as seen on this web posting......

http://www.comcast.net/news/national/index.jsp?cat=DOMESTIC&fn=/2007/09/23/770412.html