Authorities say heavy rains and landslides in Tanzania kill at least 47, hurt or strand many more
Nairobi, Dec 4: At least 47 people are dead and 85 others injured following heavy flooding and landslides in northern Tanzania, authorities said on Monday.
The government has deployed the military to help rescue hundreds of people trapped by the flooding which has been described as the worst in years in the East African nation.
The flooding occurred near Mount Hanang in the north. Houses, roads and bridges have been destroyed, complicating ongoing rescue efforts.
President Samia Suluhu Hassan, who is attending the UN climate summit in Dubai, said she was cutting short her trip to return to Tanzania due to the tragedy.
"I send my sincere condolences to the affected families and have directed all our security forces to deploy to the area and help those affected," she said in a video message.
Other East African countries including Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and South Sudan have been hit by raging floods made worse by the El Ni o phenomenon.
Hundreds have died across the region and millions have been displaced since the heavy rains began in late October.
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PM Modi, RSS strengthening wall in path of SCs, STs, OBCs: Rahul Gandhi
New Delhi (PTI): Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the RSS were strengthening the wall standing in the path of Dalits, Adivasis and OBCs, even as he acknowledged that the UPA took steps to weaken that wall but not to the extent it should have.
Addressing the 'Samvidhan Rakshak Abhiyaan', Gandhi also referred to the function held on Constitution Day in Parliament and said that it is his guarantee, that "Modi has not read" the Constitution.
"If PM Modi would have read this book then what he does daily, he would not do it," Gandhi said, displaying a copy of the Constitution of India.
Gandhi said the country's whole system is pitted against Dalits, Adivasis and backward class people.
He said a wall obstructs the path of Dalits, Adivasis and OBCs and Modi and the RSS are strengthening that wall by "adding cement to it".
"Slowly the wall (obstructing the path of SCs, STs, OBCs) is getting strengthened. Earlier, the UPA government gave MGNREGA, the land acquisition act, the right to food...those were ways to weaken that wall. Today, when I look back, I can say the UPA government did not weaken the wall to the extent it should have, it did not do it as strongly as it should have," Gandhi said.
"However, we used to make efforts to weaken that wall but they (the BJP) are strengthening that wall by adding concrete," the former Congress president said.
Gandhi said a caste survey being carried out in Telangana is a historic step and the Congress will do the same wherever it comes to power.
