Nairobi, Kenya — Human Rights Watch on Thursday accused Kenyan authorities of failing to adequately respond to flooding that has killed more than 170 people since the start of the rainy season.
The New York-based human rights group said the government “has a human rights obligation to prevent foreseeable harm from climate change and extreme weather events and to protect people when disaster strikes.”
The Kenya Meteorological Department sent out an early warning before the rainy season began, but President William Ruto did not form a response committee until April 24. By then, nearly 100 people had died due to the flooding.
Kenya, along with other parts of East Africa, have been overwhelmed by floods. More than 150,000 people are displaced and live in dozens of camps.
The human rights group said the government had failed to learn lessons from last year’s rainy season that left hundreds dead.
The meteorology department had warned that the country would experience increased rainfall due to El Nino until early this year, but Ruto in October said the country had been spared from the weather pattern.
The government announced at the time that at least 10 billion Kenya shillings ($75 million) would be released to prepare a nationwide response. It is unclear how the funds were used and critics have accused the government of embezzlement.
Those affected by the floods in Mai Mahiu, in the west of the country, have accused the government of reacting slowly. At least 45 people died after a river burst its banks and destroyed homes, and more than 80 people are missing since Monday. The rubble has not yet been removed to recover the buried bodies.
On Tuesday, the government ordered those living in flood-prone areas to move or be forcibly evacuated as more rain is forecast across the country until May.