North Darfur villagers live in constant fear of fire

A fierce fire that broke out in the Eyal Amin area of Tawila locality in North Darfur on Saturday brings the number of homes destroyed by fire in the locality to 241 since the beginning of 2023. During a visit to report from the area, the Radio and Television Dabanga team witnessed the huge fire on Saturday evening, which destroyed three houses, agricultural crops, and killed livestock.

Adoma El Nour, Head of the Eyal Amin Fire Emergency Committee, told Radio Dabanga that the fires led to the destruction of large quantities of agricultural crops, killed many livestock, and consumed as yet unassessed quantities of luggage and property.

The Eyal Amin are, about 270 kilometres south-west of from the North Darfur capital of El Fasher and about 22 kilometers from the town of Tawila, has a population of 25,300. The area has suffered from frequent fires.

El Nour appealed to the state government to declare the Eyal Amin area a disaster zone due to the frequent cases of fires of unknown origin, indicating that a large number of residents of the area are sleeping on the ground and have become homeless.

He called on the state government to give the people of the region priority in providing services such as food, water, and shelter. One third of the people in the region have been affected and lost shelter due to the repeated fires, he says.

He explained that people in the region live in a state of fear and panic due to the outbreak of fire from time to time. He said that the number of damaged homes is 241, 176 of which were subject to total destruction by fire, in addition to other material and livestock losses.

He pointed out that the fires affected the schools in the region, as a large number of students have fallen outside the education system due to the burning of books and educational supplies.

He appealed to organisations and philanthropists to speed up and provide urgent humanitarian services to the afflicted, and denounced the state government and the region sending relief convoys to events outside the state, and explained that the citizens of the state are the first to receive services.

School

Bashar Hamid, Rapporteur of the Fire Emergency Committee and Director of Eyal Amin Elementary School, called on the Ministry of Education to intervene urgently and provide educational services to continue studies in the schools in the region, which were completely burned, which led to the closure of schools.

The people of Eyal region called on the government and organisations to speed up and provide services to the afflicted, demanding that the region be declared a disaster area.

Resident Mutasim Abdelwahab said that fires occur almost daily and are constantly expected, which led to people staying in their homes in a state of alert to extinguish any fire.

He called on the state government to provide firefighting vehicles and said that they are struggling to put out the fire due to the lack of water.

Hawa Hasan Ibrahim added that she was surprised when the fire broke out in her house, and she became homeless.

Fire is a constant danger. At least 43 homes and 10 commercial premises were completely destroyed by fires that broke out at a village in the border region between South and East Darfur, and another in a South Darfur market last week.