Senegalese president wants flood victims re-housed

Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade has asked the ministry of territorial administration to re-house victims of recent floods caused by heavy rains, particularly in the suburbs of Dakar and other cities. Speaking during the Council of Ministers’ meeting in Dakar, the president said people should be stopped from living at low-lying areas, adding that this was part of measures to prevent natural disasters, such as floods. Heavy rains in the past few weeks that caused the flooding of 297 districts have led to the displacement of several hundreds of families. The government has also begun a programme to disinfect 1,200 houses, markets and schools providing shelter to some disaster victims.