2007年VOA标准英语-West Africans Seek Shelter from Floods, Brace f

By Phuong Tran
Dakar
17 August 2007

For the past few weeks, pounding rains across Sub-Saharan Africa have killed about 100 people and destroyed tens of thousands of homes, leaving many families homeless. While humanitarian¹ workers struggle to take care of flood victims, they fear the worst is yet to come. Phuong Tran has more from VOA's West Africa Bureau in Dakar.

A few weeks ago, Mauritania's president asked people to pray for rain. Aid officials, fearing widespread famine, had started planning for what appeared to be a drought.

Now, humanitarian organizations are rushing disaster relief but for flooding instead.

Mauritania is still recovering from a deadly flood that hit 10 days ago, displacing some 10,000 people. Aid streaming into the country includes blankets, mats, tents and latrines.

Mauritania's government has launched a multi-million dollar appeal for aid to the southeast region, which includes some 75,000 people.

Ahmed Ould Magueya says he cannot remember a storm as bad as the one that hit his village, Tintane, a town at the foot of a mountain.

The 70-year-old merchant says the small table he had for selling oranges floated away. Magueya says he is also a livestock² herder and that his cages, full of animals, also disappeared. He says he has no where to live or to work because he lost his home, his table and his animals.

The president of the non-profit International Federation³ of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in Mauritania, Ahmed Ahmed Aida, says he cannot remember the last time the country suffered from storms this severe.

After seeing the destruction, Aida says the village of Tintane no longer exists. He says all the shops and health centers are destroyed.

Elsewhere in Africa, heavy rains last week in southwest Chad killed three people, thousands of livestock and washed away about five thousand homes.

Guilhem Molinie is a physician directing a team of health workers from the non-profit Doctors Without Borders. They are checking damage from flooding in southwestern Chad. He says the number of rainy days has been surprising.

"The number of rainy days has actually exploded. It was just last year 16 days in August which is few, but this year we are already at 35 days of rain, the east of Chad, a deserted⁴ region," he said.

Molinie says health workers are preparing for the worst part of the rainy season.

"We have to follow closely the evolution of the situation, because the rains can continue for a month and the situation could change quickly," he said.

The doctor says the team has found several cases of malaria⁵ and diarrhea across the country, but there are no diagnosed cases yet of cholera⁶, a bacterial⁷ infection spread through contaminated water. Cholera can result in death due to dehydration⁸.

Next door to Chad in Sudan, officials say a cholera outbreak killed about 50 people during the recent rains. Hundreds of thousands of Sudanese have lost their livestock and their homes in the widespread flooding.

Flooding has has also cut roads in Mali, left sewage-infected water wells in Ivory Coast, and thousands homeless in Burkina Faso and Niger.

1 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

2 livestock   

n.家畜，牲畜

参考例句：

• Both men and livestock are flourishing.人畜两旺。
• The heavy rains and flooding killed scores of livestock.暴雨和大水淹死了许多牲口。

3 federation   

n.同盟，联邦，联合，联盟，联合会

参考例句：

• It is a federation of 10 regional unions.它是由十个地方工会结合成的联合会。
• Mr.Putin was inaugurated as the President of the Russian Federation.普京正式就任俄罗斯联邦总统。

4 deserted   

adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的

参考例句：

• The deserted village was filled with a deathly silence.这个荒废的村庄死一般的寂静。
• The enemy chieftain was opposed and deserted by his followers.敌人头目众叛亲离。

5 malaria   

n.疟疾

参考例句：

• He had frequent attacks of malaria.他常患疟疾。
• Malaria is a kind of serious malady.疟疾是一种严重的疾病。

6 cholera   

n.霍乱

参考例句：

• The cholera outbreak has been contained.霍乱的发生已被控制住了。
• Cholera spread like wildfire through the camps.霍乱在营地里迅速传播。

7 bacterial   

a.细菌的

参考例句：

• Bacterial reproduction is accelerated in weightless space. 在失重的空间，细菌繁殖加快了。
• Brain lesions can be caused by bacterial infections. 大脑损伤可能由细菌感染引起。

8 dehydration   

n.脱水，干燥

参考例句：

• He died from severe dehydration.他死于严重脱水。
• The eyes are often retracted from dehydration.眼睛常因脱水而凹陷。