Baylin man supporting survivors of shocking tanker explosion in Sierra Leone

A man from Baylin has spoken about the impact of an explosion last week which led to the deaths of over 130 people in Freetown, Sierra Leone.

Jonathan Donoghue is currently working as a Logistics and Sustainability Consultant with the All For One Foundation, a charity set up in Illinois in 2002 by Jeff Levitan which aims to improve the lives of children worldwide.

His background is in chemistry, although he moved to Sierra Leone in March through his partner Katie, who is also from Illinois.

"I emigrated to Canada but I returned to Ireland in 2016 and I worked in hospitality," Jonathan told the Westmeath Independent, shortly after leaving a crisis management meeting with government representatives. "Katie had been working in Sierra Leone on and off for six years so I made the move this year. I'm really not here that long at all."

Jonathan's work focuses on family reunification with All For One, also acting as a facilitator in providing support and services to those affected by the disaster, including victims, families and those who lost their businesses and homes.

"We try not to house children for long periods of time where possible. If for some reason parents can't care for their children, we look after them but we try to get them back to their families or next of kin within two weeks. If that doesn't happen then adoption is considered, followed by international adoption but we really try to avoid that.

"Before the explosion we had maybe 35 cases we were working on, and most of those came from a fire in the local community a few months ago."

Last Friday, a fuel tanker exploded on a busy junction in Wellington, eastern Freetown (the country's capital) after a truck collided into it.

The tanker did not explode immediately, but began leaking fuel which locals began collecting with buckets and other containers.

"The area is a very busy drop-off point for okada (motorcycle) and rickshaw drivers, as well as transit vans. Fuel began to leak after the collision and some drivers began to collect the fuel in buckets," Jonathan explained.

"In the days leading up to the disaster there was huge uncertainty about fuel prices and there were rumours that they would increase from 7,500 leone to 12,500 leone per litre (the equivalent of an increase from 60c to €1). The price of rice has also increased to 550,000 leone recently for a 50kg bag. Inflation is a real problem here, so the drivers were desperate."

The tanker later exploded, killing dozens of people and injuring many more.

"Our NGO is located about one mile from where the accident happened, so some of us went down to see if the fire was going to spread and provided help to the police to assess damage. At the moment the death toll stands at 138 but there will be a clearer picture every day about that.

"Hospitals are being overwhelmed. The initial response was for people to go to government hospitals but some people have had to go private hospitals and people are also going to hospitals on their own accord. About 90 people died at the site, so the remainder have died in hospital.

"There's a lack of blood supply as well, and there's currently no nutritionist in the country," Jonathan continued. "The hospitals struggle at the best of times, but the staff are well capable and know what they're doing because of the Ebola crisis a few years ago."

A UN burn specialist team has also recently arrived to the area to assist medical professionals in treating survivors.

Jonathan and his colleagues are now focusing on reunification of families and identification of those who have died, which the charity Concern is also partaking in.

"Reunification and contact tracing are our focus. The issue is that the road where it happened is a highway so people who were injured or killed are not necessarily local to the area so its difficult locate family. We're assessing damage to local buildings and households and trying to re-home people and families who have been displaced.

"We're getting psycho-social services for those who need them as well, because seeing someone burn is traumatic. Five school students died, so other students need to be supported through that."

Speaking about the impact that donations to charities helping in disasters such as this one have, he said money will go towards empowering people as they begin to rebuild their lives.

"With any disaster, after six or seven days when the media coverage begins to die off, money and donations begin to dwindle, but we will be working here long after the media coverage stops.

"There will be long-term effects on the local community, particularly because the drivers who died were mostly male and were the bread winners for their families. That leads to people sleeping rough or not earning as much money as they did previously.

"Donations will allow us to empower those who are left and who need support. We can get people physio, or new okadas for drivers, and we'll obviously work with other NGOs.

"€40 can get a 50kg bag of rice to feed so many people, and it can get us access to clean water."

Jonathan finished by thanking the people of Baylin and Westmeath who have already donated to the charity's relief efforts.

Anybody who would like to donate to All For One's fundraiser for the disaster can do so by visiting https://bit.ly/3D8grBM or by searching 'Bai Bureh Road, Wellington Explosion Response' on gofundme.com