Summary:

CHF 266,514 was allocated from the IFRC’s Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF) on 7 February 2013 to support the National Society in delivering assistance to 700 flood affected households or 3500 beneficiaries.

In this issue

ERF Fundraising Activities P.1

ERF Interventions P.2

Flooding along the Tana River in Kenya and the Shabelle River in Ethiopia and Somalia displaced thousands of people. More rainfall is expected.

Dry spell continues, compromising yields in several countries

KEY MESSAGES

• A prolonged dry spell in the southern half of the region has continued for over 2 months in some areas, resulting in crop yield reductions and dampened harvest expectations.

• Though prospects remain good in some parts of the region, factors that have compromised expected harvests in other areas include an erratic onset of rains, armyworm outbreaks, input distribution challenges, along with flooding and waterlogging.

27/03/2013 - Heavy rains have pounded Southern African countries resulting in widespread flooding, destruction of property, and loss of lives. The floods took place in the midst of the lean season, in a situation of acute food insecurity affecting millions of people through the region. In Mozambique, the worst hit country, more than 250,000 people, mostly women and children, are affected by the crisis with about 190,000 temporary displaced since January 2013. Malawi, Botswana, Seychelles, Zambia and Zimbabwe have also been affected by the floods.

by John Sparrow

Maria Nkomo, a farming widow with ten children can no longer grow crops. Droughts and floods in in Matabeleland North, one of Zimbabwe’s hungriest provinces, have seen to that.

She has no regular income, no assets, and no livestock other than a donkey that is in such poor shape it is unlikely she could sell it even if she took it to market.

When she wakes up in the morning the question Maria faces is the one she asked herself last night: how will we manage to eat today?

TSHOLOTSHO, Zimbabwe (AlertNet) – Widowed grandmother Thembi Damasani is counting the cost of the devastation to her home in rural Tsholotsho, battered by heavy rains last month.

Read the full story

1. Zimbabwe Hydrological Update as at 4th March 2013 - Zinwa

• Flows in the country’s major rivers have been increasing and decreasing in response to the rainfall activities in the country. A decrease in dam levels was recorded during the past week. There are moderate chances of flooding in the flood prone areas of Muzarabani, Gokwe, Middle Sabi, Tsholotsho and Chikwalakwala at the moment.

26 February 2013

The British Red Cross has given more than £80,000 from its Disaster Fund to support the Zimbabwe Red Cross. The money will help improve people’s food security and their access to clean water and sanitation facilities.

The acute food crisis in Zimbabwe is now reaching its peak – about 1.6 million people need help accessing food. In addition, recent heavy rains in the region have triggered floods across Zimbabwe, putting families under additional pressure.

Reducing people’s vulnerability