The central-eastern part of the country is suffering from the intense rainy season. Since June, it has been hitting this immense desert country affected by climate change.
Some 273 people have died in Niger and more than 700,000 have been affected by heavy rains that have been hitting the Sahelian country since June and which led to the collapse of a mosque built more than 200 years ago in Zinder, in the central east, on Tuesday. According to Niger’s Interior Ministry, as of September 4 “The floods caused the death of 273 people, including 121 by drowning and 152 by the collapse of houses”.
The ministry also counted 710,767 victims and 278 injured in these bad weather events which are affecting municipalities throughout the country including Niamey, the capital. “We are going through an extremely difficult period due to torrential rains and severe flooding”declared the Minister of Humanitarian Action and Disaster Management Aissa Laouan Wandarama, deploring “significant human and material losses”.
Zinder’s Oldest Mosque Collapses
On Tuesday, a major mosque in Zinder collapsed after torrential rains hit the large city in the east-central region. “It is the oldest mosque in Zinder and it was completely wiped off the map yesterday (Tuesday) after torrential rain.”Ali Mamane, a resident of Zinder, told AFP. The region is one of the most affected by the intense rainy season that has been hitting Niger, a vast desert country affected by climate change, since June.
Images of the building’s gradual fall, until its total collapse in the Birni district of this city, home to the region’s sultanate, were widely shared on social media. Built in the mid-19th century, this mosque was highly symbolic for the inhabitants of the country’s second city. “For hundreds of years, worshipers have come from far and wide to pray there every Friday and on Muslim holidays.”says El Hadj Mansour Kakalé, a local religious leader.
Built of mud brick – a mixture of earth and straw – it is on the list of the most visited mosques in the country after that of Agadez (north) built in 1515 and classified as a UNESCO world heritage site, according to the Nigerien Ministry of Tourism which recently restored it. “We were told about cracks in some places, but we couldn’t do anything about it with the rain.”a local ministry official explained on television on Tuesday evening.
In the city of Maradi, capital of the region of the same name and neighboring Zinder, fifteen people died in one day last week following torrential rains. During the rainy season, which lasts from June to September, Niger has been facing recurring floods for several years, including in the very desert areas of the north where significant damage was recorded again this year. A paradox in this very dry state where poor harvests are usually due to drought.
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