Mozambique & Zimbabwe: Flood Rehabilitation Appeal No. 04/2000 (rev. 4) Situation Report No. 13

Special Focus on Flood Disaster Preparedness efforts in Mozambique
Period covered: November, 2000; The end of the operation has now been revised from March 31, 2001 to December 31, 2000.

Following the disastrous floods which occurred throughout the southern Africa region in February and March, 2000, there are reports of severe new floods which threaten large areas of Mozambique. The Mozambique Red Cross Society, with support from the Federation, prepared and established a disaster preparedness plan in October 2000. With the potential for the latest floods to cause severe destruction, the Federation is appealing for donors to provide support to the latest plan. A budget revision reflecting the additional needs summarized in this "Special Focus Situation Report" is currently being prepared for the Federation’s 2001 appeal for Mozambique. As planned, the Federation will close this appeal on December 31. 2000.

The context

Hurricane winds and torrential rains have been lashing Mozambique and the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa in recent days, leading to a return to flooding only nine months after devastating floods killed over 700 people and displaced over half a million more. Nine people are reported to have been killed in wind and flood related incidents in the last 48 hours in the northern Mozambican provinces of Zambezia (five) and Nampula (four); and several towns in the southern Gaza province are already flooded, including Xai-Xai and Chokwe, two places amongst the hardest hit earlier in the year.

According to newspaper and radio reports, Nicoadala district in Zambezia province, just north of the provincial capital Quelimane, was most seriously affected by the latest storms. Over 95 mm of rain fell on Sunday night (19) and Monday (20), sweeping away five people and destroying 112 houses. A multi-sectoral team from the Mozambican Government’s National Institute for Disaster Management (INGC), the Ministry for Agriculture and Rural Development and the Health Ministry are today assessing the impact of the disaster in the province.

These rains come after weeks of prolonged rainfall in various parts of Mozambique which have been unseasonably heavy. In the capital, Maputo, between 9 -11 November the normal monthly average rainfall fell in 36 hours, with 41 mm falling on the night of 9 November alone. The floods of February-March has left the ground throughout many parts of the country completely saturated, with water tables extremely high as the five month rainy season begins and the country’s major rivers already running dangerously close to overflow levels.

Already large parts of Gaza province’s provincial capital of Xai-Xai are completely flooded with inhabitants moving to safe areas of the town on higher ground. The latest inundations are increasing cases of cholera, which have been growing in the town for the last month. Most parts of the neighbouring town of Chokwe are already under water, with German Red Cross projects in the surrounding area affected by lack of access due to roads once again being cut off or washed away by the floods. In Xinavane in Maputo province, a targeted site for a Spanish Red Cross housing reconstruction programme is already under water.

The scale of the rainfall can be gauged from measurements made by South African meteorologists in the Cape St Lucia area of KwaZulu Natal, near the southern Mozambican border, where a new 24 hour rainfall record for November was reached over 19-20 November with 295 mm. The monthly total for St Lucia (551.2 mm up until 08:00 Tuesday 21 November) is already well in excess of the previous record for November. Three people were swept away when a bridge over the Mzingazi River collapsed in the northern port town of Richard’s Bay, and more than 3,000 people have been evacuated and hundreds of women and children are being housed in public halls and being looked after by provincial officials and Red Cross volunteers.

Mozambique’s National Meteorology Institute in early October forecast a 35% chance of ‘above normal’ rainfall in the central parts of Mozambique and a 30% chance of the same in the southern and northern parts of the country. Historically, too, in the year after the most recent major floods in Mozambique - in 1977 and 1996 - the central provinces of Sofala and Manica were affected by further heavy flooding. These central provinces are the target of the Federation’s newly re-established network of sub-delegation (Beira, Sofala province) and field offices (Chimoio, Manica province; and Tete, Tete province) to implement projects set out in the July rehabilitation appeal, thanks to support from the British, Austrian, Canadian and Netherlands Red Cross Societies. However, the focus of their activities may need to switch to disaster preparedness and response in the coming months.

Unrest

These latest floods come only ten days after Mozambique experienced its most profound political crisis since the signing of the Peace Accords in Rome in 1992. On 9 November demonstrations called by the opposition Renamo party as part of its campaign to pressure the government to call fresh elections turned to violence in some parts of the country, leaving 41 people dead. The most serious incident took place in Montepuez in the northern province of Cabo Delgado. According to the latest information -from the national newspaper Noticias - violence erupted after Renamo supporters attacked the district administrative headquarters, the prison, the local market, the police headquarters, the house of the District Administrator of Montepuez, the Municipality Office Telecom Office, the secondary school, the hostel and local shops. In the fighting that followed 35 people, of whom eight were police officers, died and more than 150 people were wounded. The demonstrators reportedly broke open the armoury in the police station and distributed 153 guns and ammunition, and freed 120 prisoners from the jail. The following night, the Mozambique Red Cross warehouse in Montepuez was attacked and looted. In separate incidents, three other people died in Balama, 10 died in clashes in several parts of Nampula province, and two in an attack against the administrative offices in Caia in the central province of Sofala. Until now, Noticias reports that 134 people have been detained by police in connection with the riots. The Mozambican national Parliament has decided to set up a Commission of Inquiry to investigate the demonstrations.

Red Cross/Red Crescent Action

The International Federation and the Mozambique Red Cross - aware of the extremely dangerous water levels throughout many parts of the country and the high likelihood of renewed flooding during the coming rainy season - last month drafted an additional Disaster Preparedness contingency plan which was presented to PNS donors during the Mozambique Partnership Meeting in Maputo on 18 October. This plan is in addition to the DP stocks included in the 04/2000 (Fourth Revision) Emergency Appeal of 17 July. The contingency proposal planned to procure an additional 3,000 Basic Family Kits, each comprising:

• One tent
• Two blankets
• Two jerry cans
• Two buckets
• Two impregnated mosquito nets
• One kitchen set
• Two kits of clothes
• 1½ kg of soap.

Particular attention will be paid to the central provinces of Sofala, Manica, Inhambane and Zambezia, with contingency stocks held at provincial level where they cannot be transported to vulnerable districts due to warehousing or security considerations. All stocks will be held in CVM and Federation warehouses. Distribution of the stock will be as follows:

Central Warehouse for Disaster Preparedness in Mozambique: Maputo City

Stock for a total of 2,000 families to be disbursed to Mozambique Red Cross branches in Gaza (500 kits), Maputo Province (500 kits), southern Inhambane Province (250 kits), Maputo City (500 kits). A contingency stock of 250 kits will remain in the warehouse in Maputo, to be allocated as appropriate in the event of an emergency.

Key Provincial Warehouses:

Sofala - Beira

Stock for a total of 1,000 families to be disbursed to MRC branches in Sofala (500 kits), northern Inhambane (250 kits). A contingency stock of 250 kits will remain in the warehouse in Beira to be allocated as appropriate in the event of an emergency.

Nampula - Nampula City

Stock for a total of 550 families to be disbursed to MRC branches in the four northern provinces of Cabo Delgado (100 kits), Niassa (75 kits), Nampula (100 kits) and Zambezia (100 kits). The remaining stock of 175 kits will remain in Nampula to be allocated as appropriate in the event of an emergency.

Manica - Chimoio

Stock for a total of 450 families to be disbursed to MRC branches in Manica (100 kits) and Tete (75 kits). The remaining stock of 275 kits will remain in Chimoio to be allocated as appropriate in the event of an emergency.

In addition, further Disaster Preparedness equipment, and transportation and logistics costs, will need to be covered to ensure that the Mozambican Red Cross is reasonably well prepared for the coming inundations.

The Federation, without prior funding, has already procured the remaining items needed to ensure that the 04/2000 appeal target of 1,000 family sets was reached (at a cost of CHF 156,912) and these kits are now being distributed to Sofala (Beira) and Manica (Chimoio). The Federation, in the light of the latest floods and in preparation for further flooding which is likely to strike many more parts of the country, is therefore urgently appealing for immediate funding of CHF 2,014,723 to cover these and the remaining costs of providing 4,000 family kits to support up to 24,000 persons. A budget revision is currently being prepared for the Federation’s 2001 appeal in Mozambique, and this will reflect the additional needs specified in this Special Focus Situation Report. The Federation intends to follow through on its plans to close the current 04/2000 (revision 4) on December 31, 2000.

Needs

In order to procure the basic supplies for 4,000 DP emergency kits, the following is required:

So far, the response to the Federation’s Disaster Preparedness Contingency Plan has been disappointing. The Danish Red Cross has pledged 500,000 DKK (approximately CHF 100,000) and the German Red Cross has agreed to pay up to DM 150,000 to cover the installation of a nation-wide radio communications network. The floods of recent days testify to the vulnerable condition of Mozambique to more devastating flooding. It is therefore imperative that more donors support these modest Disaster Preparedness plans now.

Contributions

Please find attached the List of Contributions for both appeals 04/2000 (revision 4) and 01.44/2000.

Bekele Geleta
Head
Africa Department

Peter Rees-Gildea
Head
Operations Funding and Reporting Department

Annex 1

Annex 1