Mozambique - Rains OCHA Situation Report No. 1

Ref: OCHA/GVA - 2003/0007
OCHA Situation Report No. 1
Mozambique - Rains
10 January 2003

The following information was provided by the Office of the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Mozambique and the National Institute for Disaster Management.

SITUATION AND DAMAGE

1. From 4 to 5 January 2003, heavy rains associated with tropical depression Delfina swept away roads and bridges and destroyed crops and homes in Northern Mozambique. Nampula and Zambezia are the worst hit provinces.

2. The Technical Council for Disaster Management met on 8 January 2003 to discuss preliminary findings. Three people have been confirmed dead, three people have been injured and one person is missing.

3. The Office of the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Mozambique informs that the Government is reporting that the number of people affected has increased from 30,000 to 100,000 people.

4. Rains have damaged the water supply system in the urban centres. It is furthermore estimated that 350 schools have been destroyed, so are three health centres and a hundred "barracks" for informal markets. A train is reported to have derailed on a bridge over the Meluli River.

5. The National Institute for Disaster Management (INGC) reports that in the Nampula province there is no access by road to Angoche, Moma, Murrupula, Ribaue, Malema, Lalaua and Mecuburi because of damage to infrastructure. One bridge on river Mutivaze has been damaged and a total of six bridges have been damaged on river Meluli. This happens at a time where some of the zones in Nampula province have exhausted their food stocks because of the drought. The power supply has been disrupted in the entire province but is expected to be resumed in the four coming days.

6. Assessments are still being conducted but are greatly hampered by the lack of access.

NATIONAL RESPONSE

7. In Nampula USD 4,200 has been made available from the disaster contingency fund. In Zambezia, USD 8,400 has been made available to assist 1,800 affected people. The Central Government has allocated USD 42,000 towards emergency efforts in the affected areas.

8. The Technical Council for Disaster Management keeps in close contact with the Provincial Governments to monitor the damages in the different sectors and identify alternative routes to channel the aid to the isolated areas.

9. The Mozambican Red Cross, who has conducted emergency preparedness training workshops in these provinces in the course of 2002, is mobilizing volunteers and is also establishing a capacity to respond to outbreaks of cholera, should this happen.

10. The Ministry of Health is assessing and monitoring the health situation in the affected areas with the support of the World Health Organization (WHO).

11. This situation report, together with information on other ongoing emergencies, is available on the OCHA Website at http://www.reliefweb.int

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Press contact: (in GVA) Ms. Elisabeth Byrs Direct Tel: +41-22-917 26 53; (in N.Y.) Mr. Brian Grogan Direct Tel:+1 212 963 11 43