People from close to 360 homesteads at Sikondo Village in the Kapako Constituency of the Kavango West Region, were on Wednesday relocated to higher ground after their homes were submerged in water, earlier this year. The Office of the Prime Minister's (OPM) National Disaster Risk Management Unit, along with the Kavango West Regional Council (KWRC), erected 27 tents to house the flood victims temporarily. The OPM also provided food assistance in the form of maize meal bags and canned fish, mosquito nets, potable water and mattresses, with the latter being given to the elderly and needy women. Speaking at the setting up of the temporary relocation camp, Executive Director in the OPM, I-Ben Nashandi said the shelter is a temporary measure. “Government has come to set up the relocation facility but it is temporary. It is not going to give you the comfort you had at home,” he said, adding that despite that reality, the government wants to ensure that the residents are not under the threat of water or the adjacent threat from waterborne diseases. KWRC senior public relations officer, Salomo Tenga, at the same event said a truck with more tents was on its way and two more identified areas are being prepared for relocation. “The process of setting up facilities at these two places has started. The Namibia Red Cross Society also indicated they would come on board, particularly after observing the response from the government,” he said. One of the beneficiaries of the relocation, 60-year-old Theresia Mpingana, said the relocation should have come sooner, but expressed gratitude for having been relocated to higher ground. -NAMPA