Following outpour of public criticism, Sierra Leone’s president Julius Maada Bio finally visited flood victims in an around Freetown.
The president on Friday spent time with residents of Wellington in the West end of Freetown where four people have been confirmed dead after torrential rain flooded communities and destroyed houses.
President Bio also visited residents of Tombo, a fishing community about 30Km outside the capital city.
A statement from the presidency seen by APA on Saturday said President Bio donated a consignment of relief aids, including 300 bags of rice, 1000 blankets and 200 treated bed nets. The donated items also include bales of cloths and dozens of buckets.
The statement said the president visited the scenes to have a first-hand impression of the havoc caused by the disasters and to commiserate with affected families on the loss of their relatives and property.
The victims were also assured of Government’s commitment to helping them go through the experience.
“I am president for all Sierra Leoneans and whenever any citizens is affected by natural disaster, we must all unite in that sadness,” the president was quoted in the statement telling victims in Tombo.
Bio however lamented that the effect of the flooding had worsened because people build in the wrong places, calling on the masses, especially those in flood prone areas to adhere to official call for them to be relocated.
KC/abj/APA