Bodies of the victims are tranferred out of the site of the mudslides in Freetown, capital of Sierra Leone, on Aug. 18, 2017. (Xinhua/Chen Cheng)

FREETOWN, Aug. 22 (Xinhua) -- Sierra Leone's Deputy Minister of Information and Communications, Cornelius Deveax, disclosed that over 4,000 children have been registered as homeless after the flooding and mudslide disaster struck near the capital city Freetown.

After the August 14 mudslide and flooding disaster rocked various communities including Kaningo, Motemeh at Mount Sugar Loaf in the Regent Community, the government set up various emergency response centers where affected victims are being registered. The centers were also set up to collect data on people who died during the disaster.

According to Deveax Monday, some local non-governmental organizations, including a Catholic Don Bosco Fambul Organization, have opted to house and take of some of the children that were left homeless and orphaned by the disaster.

He said nearly 500 bodies so far have been discovered and buried in Waterloo at the outskirt of Freetown, while more people are still believed to be buried under the rubble at Mount Sugar Loaf.

"The rescue operation is still in progress and we still expect to discover more bodies," he said.

Deveax said that that there are lots of technical limitations. "We don't have the state of the art equipment and we don't have forensic experts, but the international community has started responding in that direction. For instance, through Interpol, we have got some forensic experts from the Spanish police," he said.

In the area of providing housing facility for the affected people who were left homeless, he said "we are looking at a lasting solution and we would now use the food and non -food items to support the victims."

While donations both in cash and other emergency aid materials from individuals, organizations and international community have been received by the government, he said the cash donation would be used to put permanent housing facilities for people that were affected by the disaster.

He however noted that the government could not as for now tell the exact number of people that were affected by the disaster, but stated that data from statistics Sierra Leone and National Civil Registration Authority are being collated to determine the exact number of people that were affected.

He noted that the post disaster recovery is ongoing with cabinet meeting on a daily basis to strategize the way forward.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization is working closely with the Government of Sierra Leone to prevent the spread of infectious diseases such as malaria and cholera in the wake of last week's mudslides and flooding in Freetown, according to a release from the organization.

The release stated that the organization is also working with partners to ensure ongoing health care for the injured and displaced, and to provide psychological aid to those coping with trauma.