Sudan: Dam Burst Kills Scores, Destroys 50K Homes

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Facts

  • According to Sudanese media, at least 60 people have been killed and more than 50K homes destroyed following the collapse of the Arbaat Dam in Sudan's northeast Red Sea State over the weekend.[1][2]
  • Though search and rescue operations are underway, the UN said that the death toll was likely to be much higher as the dam burst damaged 50 villages and washed away a further 20 downstream. Between 150 and 200 people are reportedly missing.[3][4]
  • The collapse of the dam is being attributed to torrential rains. Reportedly, the heavy rainfall has also damaged communication networks and made it difficult to reach people stranded in the mountains and deliver aid.[5][6]
  • The UN said that the dam, which has a capacity of 25M cubic meters, is Port Sudan's main drinking water source. It added that the dam's breach resulted in its reservoir draining fully, causing severe flooding.[7][8]
  • This rainy season, intermittent torrential flooding in Sudan has killed at least 132 people, destroyed more than 12K homes in 10 of the country's provinces, affected over 31K families, and displaced at least 118K people.[9][10]
  • A months-long civil war in Sudan has already displaced more than 10M people and killed at least 18K. While over half of its population faces acute hunger, the country is facing an upsurge in the cholera epidemic.[11][9]

Sources: [1]Al Jazeera, [2]Africanews, [3]CNN (a), [4]Guardian, [5]BBC News, [6]Reuters, [7]New York Times, [8]Washington Post, [9]France 24, [10]Associated Press and [11]CNN (b).

Narratives

  • Narrative A, as provided by Al Jazeera and UNEP. Sudan is one of the most climate-vulnerable countries in the world, grappling with extreme weather conditions — including heavier-than-usual rainfall, severe and intermittent torrential flooding, and devastating droughts — which have devastated the country's ecosystems and added to the worsening humanitarian crisis brought on by war. The international community must help the Sudanese people adapt to the climate change-induced challenges, particularly in water resources, health, coastal zones, and energy.
  • Narrative B, as provided by Le Monde.fr and Firstpost. Bad, authoritarian leaders use the climate crisis as a scapegoat. It's not the country's daunting ecology but its civil war that has wrecked civilian infrastructure, battered its healthcare system, brought mass displacement, pushed millions into starvation, and caused widespread disease outbreaks. This dam collapsed because both warring parties routed their resources into the conflict instead of investing in its periodic maintenance. Sudan must return to normalcy, or such catastrophic incidents will become routine.

Predictions