One of the schools submerged by floods in Fangak town - credit | Boutros Biel

The Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management has requested for $10 million to address the impact of flood in the country.

Last week, the cluster chaired by the first vice president Dr. Riek Machar declared the flood across the country as a national emergency.

This came after it destroyed homes and agricultural fields – forcing families and their livestock to higher grounds.

According to the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs or UNOCHA, an estimated 380,000 people have been affected by flooding in six states since May – with Jonglei and Unity the most affected.

“This money will build and repair dykes, buy medicines, provide food assistance and shelter to reduce the suffering,” Dr. Kot Bol, undersecretary, told Eye Radio.

Annually, torrential rains caused havoc in several parts of the country, including Jonglei, Lakes, parts of Central and Western Equatoria states.

According to IGAD Climate Prediction, heavy rainfall is expected to continue in parts of South Sudan until the end of September.

If approved, it’s not clear whether the assistance will reach the intended recipients.

This is because those entrusted with such funds reportedly usually divert them into individual pockets.

In 2014, the government set up a crisis management committee headed up by Vice President James Wani.

It was tasked with assessing the political, social, economic, security and diplomatic effects of the conflict that broke out in the young nation in mid-December 2013.

In addition, the committee was to provide strategies for mitigating the consequences of the conflict and formulate an awareness raising strategy targeting the population, region and international community about the government’s version of events and how to better respond to a crisis that has displaced millions of people.

But of the SSP 447 million wired into the committee’s account, it could only account for SSP 84 million.

The crisis management committee was made up of the then senior government officials, including Kuol Manyang, Daniel Awet, Dr Barnaba Marial, Awut Deng and Michale Makuei. Read full list here.