VP’s chopper renders 78-yr-old woman, 4 others homeless in C-River

By Johnbosco Agbakwuru
CALABAR—IT was a double tragedy for a 78-year-old Mrs. Bessie Obi and four other occupants of a mud house when the wind generated by  the helicopter carrying Vice President Namadi Sambo pulled down the house while landing.
The incident took place at Buanchor, a rural community in Boki Local Government Area of Cross River State, when the Vice President visited the area recently devastated by landslide from surrounding mountings, silting rivers and streams that led to widespread flood which rendered many homeless.
The septuagenarian was rescued by officers of  Cross River State Emergency Management Agency, SEMA, and their counterparts from National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, from the three room mud house, though some of the property of the occupants were destroyed.
The Vice President was unaware of the incident but the state Director–General of SEMA, Mr. Vincent Aquah, who assessed the damage, sympathized with the old woman and the other occupants of the house, promising that the incident would be addressed shortly.
Buanchor community, Katabang, Orimekpang and Boje in Boki Local Government Area, as well as some communities in Ikom Local Government Area, were heavily flooded on account of the landslide. Statistics from SEMA showed that 1,311 farms, two mills, one school, four bridges, nine culverts and 187 buildings were affected by the landslide and flood in Boki Local Government Area.