World Vision responding to flooding in southern Africa

January 15, 2008

World Vision is scaling up its flood response in Mutarara, Mozambique, now that the swollen Zambezi river has cut off road access to the area. Up to 55,000 people have been affected by the flooding and the country is on red alert – the highest level of emergency warning.

Local district administrator Alexander Faite says authorities claim some 25,000 people are displaced in the area.

“The only way in or out is through neighbouring Malawi or by air,” he says.

Serious floods occur annually in southern African countries from January to March.

Mutarara resident, Augusto Coutinho, and his family of seven children are now living in a resettlement area.

“We've lost everything: our home and our crops," he says. “We had maize, cassava and millet growing here and it looked like we were going to have a good harvest.”

World Vision Mozambique has been providing shelter materials and is preparing to increase its relief response as food, water and sanitation needs emerge.

In Machanga, in central Mozambique, tens of thousands of people are in urgent need of food, water, shelter, clothing and medication after vast areas of the district were inundated by the Save River. Displaced people have moved to accommodation centres on higher ground.

World Vision’s project in Machanga encompasses a range of HIV and AIDS awareness-raising, prevention and home-based care activities. Project staff say the local hospital was flooded, as well as the HIV and AIDS voluntary counselling and testing centre it houses.

Staff are continuing to carry out awareness-raising sessions to help prevent disease outbreaks in the emergency shelters.

In Zimbabwe, World Vision is continuing to assess and respond to the flooding situation, which has affected three development areas.

Safe drinking water and medicines are being distributed to flood-affected households to curb the spread of water-borne disease.
Heavy rains started in Zimbabwe in December, destroying homes, livestock, boreholes, roads and bridges.

Zambia and Malawi have also experienced flash flooding. In Zambia, where almost 5,000 children are sponsored by New Zealanders, crops have been washed away in the south and southwest of the country. World Vision New Zealand-funded Siachitema ADP has reported some crop damage but no loss of life.

In Malawi, up to 1,400 households have lost homes and livestock, but World Vision New Zealand’s ADPs, where more than 6,500 children are sponsored by New Zealanders, have not been affected.

Community disaster-prevention efforts, such as modern agricultural methods and environmentally friendly practices, have helped to mitigate acute flood damage, according to World Vision Malawi’s food security manager, Esau Mwendo.