Douala Airport: No Sleep for Residents

The residents in these areas are not only haunted by noise pollution but also floods during heavy down pour.

Residents in Fret, elf, New and Old Town neighbourhoods in Douala, all residential areas close to the Douala International Airport are disturbed daily by the boozing noise and vibration caused by aircrafts either landing or taking off at night and day. There is virtually no lengthy period of calm and tranquillity as the planes touch down or take off all round the clock. The nuisance is usually worst for visitors on to the areas or someone who has to spend a few nights and days there. Sometimes they feel like jumping out of their beds. “It is horrible, one of them said, I thought the roof of the house was falling down”. But that is a normal occurrence to most of the regular residents of the areas. Most of them will sleep soundly even when two planes are roaring overhead to touch down. It is even worst at night when many planes take off and land. “It is not easy to have a sweet sleep,” Ngomba Agnes complained. “When I just came here it took me some time to get used to the noise. Sometimes I used to jump out of bed at night. It looked as though an earthquake was building up. But it was just a plane about to take off. Now, I am used to it. It is normal” said another resident. If some of them are used to the noise, many are still worried about the floods they face during heavy down pours that are regular during the rainy season. These days, it rains heavily at night and many people could not sleep because they had to grapple with the rising tide. At midnight, many people were scooping water out of their homes with buckets. The heavy rains and flood of June 27 could not be handled because it rained seriously and continuously for closed to twelve hours. Water flooded into homes.Life is particularly difficult during the rainy seasons in these areas. Several patches are below sea level. Most of the pit toilets are less than six feet deep because of the shallow water level. It is easy to dig and be blocked by get water. Unfortunately much of the water is not drinkable. Worse still when it rains, water causes faeces, maggots and all waste to float. Using the toilets can be quite disheartening and embarrassing.

Effa Tambenkongho