“Catastrophic Food Insecurity”
Floods, Famine, and Bombings Shatter Fangak
When 13 year-old Yoel fell ill, he wasn’t strong enough to escape the floodwaters that were swallowing up Fangak. His father Stephen was a widower. For two hours he carried Yoel through swirling chest-high water to get his son out of the torrent.
But there was nowhere to go for help. Only small peninsulas of land where higher ground rose above the murky waters, creating isolated encampments of trapped families. Survivors were left with no food, no water, no shelter.
PLIGHT IN FANGAK
- Massive Flooding
- Homes and Crops Submerged
- Civilians Trapped by Surrounding Waters
- No Food or Humanitarian Aid
- Threat of Starvation
- Aerial Bombings Destroyed Infrastructure
When Aamira first glimpsed the refugee camp at Malakal, there were tents as far as her eye could see. Some people lay in the intense sun with no shelter at all. There were no facilities in sight. It was frightening, and she wondered how long they would be here. But at least there was no gunfire.
Displaced families shelter in overcrowded camps after fleeing violence and flooding.
A Deadly Combination
Fangak as it has always been known is disappearing, surrendering to what used to be seasonal floods that have now stretched into an ongoing and constant threat. Homes, cropland, and entire communities vanished beneath the surface.
But another deadly threat struck Fangak at the same time. The town was caught in the middle of regional conflict. Fighting escalated into devastating aerial bombing attacks. Massive explosions crippled Fangak’s infrastructure, leaving schools, hospitals, and communications in ruins.
Families like Yoel and his father were left trapped in desperate conditions – stripped of any means to help themselves and cut off from the world.
Absence of Humanitarian Aid
Survivors in Fangak have struggled with mounting food insecurity since famine engulfed the region in May. Aid organizations classify its condition as “Phase Five Catastrophic Food Insecurity,” the most severe level recognized by humanitarian agencies, and one which signals “imminent and widespread loss of life.”
Most humanitarian aid to Fangak is suspended due to enormous logistical challenges. Navigating the flooding and rubble has left airdrop and boat transport as the only reliable means of getting relief to survivors.
Families clinging to life will face starvation if food shipments don’t make it to victims imminently. The situation on the ground is critical. You can help save lives at this crucial moment by rushing emergency food to the suffering in Fangak.
Hunger and exhaustion leave vulnerable people with nowhere to turn.
Voices of the Victims
Personal reports from victims themselves tell the heartbreaking story of the desperation happening right now. Fourteen year-old Goanar shared how he used to be a good student who enjoyed school. He knew he had a promising academic future. That ended abruptly when disaster struck.
Now he waits in rain-soaked clothing for help to come. “We are suffering under trees instead of being in class,” he lamented. “Our situation is very bad: no food, medicine, or blankets, while it keeps raining on us. We want peace to come.”
“Our situation is very bad. No food, medicine, or blankets… We want peace to come.” – 14 yr old Goanar of Fangak
Another woman described her family’s harrowing ordeal. “Children, women, and the elderly have been here for a week with no food or medicine. We rely on water plants for food. It rained on us last night because we have no shelter and our children are suffering. I have been here for eight days. We fled with no clothes or food.”
Children Hit the Hardest
Natasha had come from New Zealand to volunteer her skills as a nurse in Fangak. She described the “ever-rising water levels” that continued to swell, sweeping away people’s homes and livelihoods with them.
She had hoped to help the struggling people of Fangak by ministering to their medical needs. But then came a strike on the medical facility that no one saw coming. Out of nowhere, aerial drones and gunships suddenly rained artillery from the sky, injuring patients and staff workers, and causing terror and chaos.
“Our Old Fangak hospital was directly fired upon and bombed, setting fire to the hospital’s pharmacy and injuring staff…[They] also fired on the town, and a drone bombed the Old Fangak market.”
Survivors rushed to transport the injured by river to the next triage point. “Patients came from hours upriver,” she recounted. “As a result, some did not survive.”
Mother and her twins seek safety after violence shattered their community.
“We have no shelter and our children are suffering. We fled with no clothes or food.” – desperate mother in Fangak
If Not Us, Who?
Families of Fangak are in a race against time and starvation – trapped in pockets of land surrounded by floodwater and left with a community in ruins. They’re without the most basic resources to survive.
Sudan Relief Fund began to distribute aid when famine first hit in May, and even now we are able to mobilize partnerships on the ground to act quickly in this emergency. Because of years-long relationships with local organizations and entities, Sudan Relief Fund is able to get relief supplies into some of the most difficult to reach areas where others are unable to do so.
We’re poised to deliver food relief by air drop and boat to families clinging to life. A nutritional paste similar to peanut butter known as Plumpy’Nut, used by doctors worldwide, can save severely malnourished people and children if they receive treatment in time. Your support makes it possible to provide that lifesaving aid.
Emergency food helps mothers feed children suffering from malnutrition.
Please consider making a donation today. Your gift will rush emergency food to survivors in Fangak. Your gift will feed families, women, and children in dire hunger, trapped by circumstances they can’t control.
We mustn’t stand by and let Fangak become a humanitarian tragedy – one where people like Stephen and his son survived disaster only to starve on the shores of the floodwaters. Please help today.
PS – Time is critical. Your compassionate gift will save trapped families from starvation and give suffering children like Goanar a future they won’t have without our help. Please don’t wait.
