MOZAMBIQUE: Mozambique's military and relief agencies evacuate more than 20,000 people from their homes in flood areas along the Zambezi river
- 00:01:16
- ITN Source
MOZAMBIQUE: Mozambique's military and relief agencies evacuate more than 20,000 people from their homes in flood areas along the Zambezi river
Large numbers of Mozambicans who fled rising flood waters along the Zambezi river in central Mozambique are seeking shelter in makeshift camps in the Chupanga area in northern Mozambique. Mozambique's military and relief agencies have evacuated more than 20,000 people from their homes in flood areas along the river, relief agency INGC said. Some 500,000 people in the impoverished southern African country, mainly in the provinces of Zambezia and Sofala, are at risk from flooding that has killed 29 people and damaged thousands of homes and schools. More rains are expected. Relief Agency INGC Sofala director Joao Ribeiro said 24,000 people had been taken to transit and accommodation centres as rains in neighbouring Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi poured into the overflowing Cahora Bassa Dam. Ribeiro said the situation could get out of their control if rain continued over the next few days. Joacquim Dausse, one of the displaced residents of a camp set up near a disused church in the Chupanga region, about 1,400 (875 miles) north of the capital Maputo, said living conditions in the camp were tough. "We have a problem here with food, it is not enough, and we are only eating starch. We don't have tents or blankets, we have nothing, and more people are still coming," Dausse said. The Administrator of the Chupanga region Joao Jonasse feared the worst was still to come. He said many houses were under water and they were expecting huge numbers of evacuees in coming days. Prime Minister Luisa Diogo said on Friday the government may have to call for international help to rescue people threatened by rising water, adding the situation could turn out to be worse than the devastating floods of 2000 and 2001. Flooding in Mozambique in late 2000 and early 2001 killed over 700 people and displaced half a million others.
ITN Source | February 12, 2007
