As Waters Recede, Devastation and Displacement in Mozambique after Worst Floods in 44 Years
Three weeks have passed since relentless rainfall unleashed the worst flooding in Mozambique's Licungo River basin since 1971. Since the Government of Mozambique declared a red alert on January 12, an estimated 157,000 people have been affected, the vast majority of whom are in Zambezia province.
"Forty-four years have passed here without this level of flooding," says Gilbeiro Ononade, emergency coordinator for Concern Worldwide in Mozambique. "That is why they built their houses on the river, where they could easily fish and plant their crops in fertile soil. They lost everything--food, clothes, houses.”
This year, the floods happened instantly and without warning, due to rains in Mozambique, as well as further upstream in Malawi, where rivers swelled and came barreling into Mozambique on the way to the Indian Ocean. "In some areas, the water was 12 meters above the normal level," says Ononade.
The floods wreaked havoc on infrastructure along the Licungo River. The destruction to roads and bridges left 70 percent of the province completely unreachable by land, making delivering relief items extremely difficult. Concern Worldwide, which has worked in Mozambique since 1987, has teams traveling by helicopter, boat, and truck to reach communities across Zambezia
More rains are also expected in the coming weeks, which has made many apprehensive to rebuild for fear they would lose yet another home to the floods. Even after the rains stop, the choice for families about where to settle is difficult: return to the land they have always called home or settle on higher ground where they will be safe from future
floods?
Lordes Fernando, 42, and two of her three children, Lavinha (right), 10, and Lavinho (left), 2, sit on the ground where they have been sleeping after floods destroyed their home.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/crystal-wells/as-waters-recede-devastat_b_6618332.html?utm_hp_ref=extreme-weather
No comments:
Post a Comment