IRIN Southern Africa - Floods 5 April 2000
JOHANNESBURG, 5 April (IRIN) - As cyclone Hudah approached the north coast of Mozambique on Wednesday bringing overcast weather and rains, the damage it wrought in Madagascar claimed at least 10 lives and left a trail of destruction in the north of giant Indian Ocean island. The WFP spokeswoman in Mozambique, Aya Schneorson, told IRIN that the country's north coast was overcast and light rains had started falling by mid-afternoon. The South African Weather Bureau (http://www.sawb.gov.za/) said the cyclone was moving towards the coast at approximately 15 kmh and would reach the coastal town of Quelimane after nightfall. The French colour photographs provided by satellites passing over the area twice a day, downgraded the weather front to a tropical storm. In neighbouring Malawi, officials told IRIN they were also concerned at the impact the new cyclone could have in the south of the country. Latest Mozambique government figures show that a total of 699 deaths have been recorded and 95 people are reported missing. MADAGASCAR A new death toll The daily, 'Midi Madagasikara' said at least 10 people were killed and thousands displaced when the cyclone swept through the island on Sunday and Monday. Humanitarian officials also reported that food warehouses in the northeast had also been destroyed. In a report quoting the government disaster agency, the Conseil national de secours (CNS), 'Midi Madagasikara' said seven people had died in Maroantsetra on the northeast coast, two in Antalaha, 150 km to the northeast, and one person just inland at Sambava. The cyclone's winds reached up to 300 kmh and most of the victims were killed by falling trees, officials said. The scale of the disaster The cyclone struck at the weekend just as the country was recovering from the devastation of two earlier cyclones in February and March, which like Hudah, swept across the 400 km Mozambique Channel to bring further destruction to the African mainland. "Our first photographs speak for themselves - even homes built to withstand such cyclones and afford their occupants protection, were destroyed," 'Midi Madagasikara' said. The news reports said at least 100,000 people had been rendered homeless following the passage of cyclone Hudah. "This is really a disaster. No houses are untouched. There is no power. The winds were so strong there are no trees," said WFP Representative Haladou Salha. He had just returned from an assessment flight over Antalaha, a town renowned for its vanilla plantations. Humanitarian relief On Wednesday, a government aircraft delivered 6 mt of rice, with packages of matches, candles, vitamin tablets, and four sacks of sugar. "Given the high cost of (air) transport, the CNS is planning to buy 10 mt of rice in Antalaha for distribution to the outlying areas," 'Midi Madagasikara' said. Humanitarian officials said tents, bedding, water purification tablets, high energy biscuits, beans and other emergency commodities would be delivered to the area as quickly as possible, even before the results of the first damage surveys are in. The 'Madgascar Tribune' quoted the UN Resident Coordinator Adama Guindo as saying the immediate humanitarian objective "is to keep to a minimum the delay between the passing of the cyclone and the delivery of humanitarian aid." Roads and communications The Associated Press said the road between Antalaha and its airport was cleared on Monday so that relief supplies could be airlifted to the town. But highways to the area, which is in the centre of Madagascar's vanilla growing region, were cut off. The CNS said Andapa, a northern town which was hard hit hard by flooding and mudslides last month, also reported heavy damage to buildings and homes. A resort at the coastal town of Cap Est was flattened, and Maroantsetra flooded. It said it was too early to know the extent of damage to important rice, coffee and vanilla crops in the region. MOZAMBIQUE The weather In Mozambique, the country hardest-hit by rains and flooding from swollen rivers as a result of the cyclones, the South African Weather Bureau said on Wednesday: "Gale force winds are expected on the coast between the Zambezia Province towns of Angoche and Quilemane later today. Heavy rain will occur in the Quilemane area later today, spreading inland overnight and southwest towards Beira." At this stage, it added, the heavy rain is not expected to affect the southern parts of Mozambique. "We are extremely hopeful that this new front will not bring heavy rain to the mainland," said WFP spokeswoman Aya Schneorson. "The Zambezia Province is a surplus (food production) area for this country. If another cyclone brought disaster here, an area home to some three million people who have so far survived the worst of this, it will be devastating in the longer term." River levels In its latest report this week, the Mozambique disaster management authority, the Instituto Nacional Gestao de Calamidades (INGC), said the Limpopo River remained 0.5 metres above alert level at the city of Xai Xai. Further south, the Umbuluzi River fell 5 cm at Goba, while its tributary, the Movene River dropped 19 cm. The Incomati River was also subsiding. In the centre of the country, the level of the Buzi River had subsided, while the Pungwe River was still above alert level. It said rivers in the north of Mozambique all appeared to be subsiding, including the Zambezi, the Licungo and the Messalo Rivers. But it said cyclone Hudah could affect river basins in the provinces of Cabo Delgado, Niassa, Zambezia and Nampula. Food WFP delivered 346 mt of food from 31 March to 2 April. It said 171 mt had been sent by road, 41 mt by boat and 134 mt by air. This brings the cumulative total of food delivered since the start of the emergency operation on 11 February to at least 6,100 mt. Action Contre la Faim (ACF), in agreement with the INGC and WFP, will distribute food aid in Chibabava district of Sofala province. ACF said it would provide food to 6,200 families in April. In Sofala province, WFP is positioning one-month's food supply in Nova Sofala. Supply for a similar period has been placed in Chibabava, but as beneficiary figures have risen to 36,000, more food will be delivered. In Machanga commodities were delivered from a British ship anchored off the mouth of the Save River. Agriculture The INGC said agriculture authorities remain concerned about the lack of response to needs in the livestock sector. "The urgency of this need is evident in the poor health of farm animals." it said. Meanwhile, the emergency committee on agriculture has finalised its plans for the distribution of seeds and tools by province and district, except for Cabo Delgado in the north. "The provincial authorities must co-ordinate the reception of donations, which includes preparing warehouse space and working with the district authorities to plan deliveries to the localities. Action Aid is co-ordinating the work of the NGO community in the seed and tool programme in Maputo, Gaza, Inhambane, Sofala, Manica and Tete," it said. Provincial agriculture authorities were also drawing up a crop calendar for each district. Gaza Province is being given priority in the distribution of seeds and tools with the first shipments due to arrive this week. It also said the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development had developed a standardised seed and tool kit with which donors should comply. Health It said a total of 61,884 vaccinations against meningitis had been administered in Gaza. In addition, 1,273 tetanus vaccinations, 10,739 measles vaccinations and 12,300 injections of vitamin A supplement were given in Gaza. The vaccination campaign was still underway in Inhambane, Manica and Sofala. The INGC reported 590 suspected cases of cholera, including 9 deaths, since 31 March. Of these 520 were reported in the capital, Maputo, 42 in Sofala Province, 25 in Matola and three in Manica province. Water and Sanitation Main concerns in the water and sanitation sector remain the provision of clean water and sanitation facilities and hygiene promotion in the accommodation centres and in the cities of Chokwe and Xai Xai. With 25 NGOs working in the sector, it said: "The sector has fielded four teams working in hygiene promotion in Maputo, Gaza and Inhambane. It is planned to deploy a hygiene promotion team out of Beira next week. As regards family hygiene kits, the sector will distribute 6,000 of these this week." Shelter and accommodation The working group on shelter was assessing needs in accommodation centres, as well as contacting NGOs and other institutions to prepare for the resettlement phase. The INGC said specifications for a standardised household kit of shelter materials needs to be developed. Customs Importers of humanitarian relief, it said, had to ensure that the INGC is informed in advance of the arrival of goods and that the stipulated emergency customs forms are completed. "Copies of guidelines prepared by the customs department on importation procedures are available at the INGC Coordination Centre. Customs must still fulfil its normal duties of collecting revenue and preventing smuggling, as well as dealing with the clearance of emergency goods," it said. Donors The Mozambique Red Cross has received a donation of US $100,000 from the South African Red Cross, which has several donations awaiting transport to Mozambique, either by road or rail. Woolworths of South Africa donated clothes worth US $3,000 for flood victims in Chibuto and Xai Xai. A local Mozambican brewery is to donate US $25,000 for a Mozambique Red Cross project in Maputo. New Zealand and Singapore have contributed US $91,000 for WFP air operations. The International federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said it had received 2,000 tents, jerry cans and cooking sets from the British Red Cross on 31 March. A similar amount is in the pipeline to arrive from South Africa by road. The Salvation Army in Britain said 1,000 tents and five marquees would be delivered by cargo plane in coming days. The marquees are destined for Inhambane, in response to a need expressed in a recent provincial report. MALAWI The deputy commissioner of the Malawi's disaster management authority, Willie Gidala, told IRIN on Wednesday that more households have been affected by the rains that hit the tiny country two weeks ago: "We had initially underestimated the number of affected households in our assessments, but further assessments at the weekend revealed that more households than we had projected were affected." The north He said in Karonga in the northern part of the country, 64 villages have been flooded and the total number of damaged houses is 13,224. He said of the 13,224 houses affected, 2,917 are water-logged, while 10,307 have been destroyed. "We don't know how long the water-logged houses will remain standing," Gidala said, adding that it is possible these might collapse at any moment. The centre Gidala said in the central district of Nkhotakota there are an additional 400 families whose households have been flooded, while an additional 1,010 households have been affected in Chikwawa, north of the commercial capital, Blantyre. The south In Nsanje, on the southern tip of Malawi, Gidala said an additional 1,034 households have suffered flood damage. Resources He added that there is a resource gap for Nkhotakota, Nsanje and Chikwawa. "No assistance has been provided to the affected people in these districts as yet because of lack of resources," Gidala said. He added that the authority still awaited the response from central government to make available the necessary resources. Relief assistance He said, however, that on Monday and Tuesday food and non-food items were distributed to the affected people in the Karonga district. These included maize flour, beans, salt and cereals for children, blankets, plastic sheeting, pots as well as plates and plastic buckets. The weather Gidala said the country's weather bureau forecast that the new tropical storm Hudah might hit the southern part of Malawi within 48 hours from Mozambique. "If this happens, there will be more devastation in the south of Malawi," he said. IRIN-SA - Tel: +2711 880 4633 Fax: +2711 447 5472 [This item is delivered in the English service of the UN's IRIN humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations. For further information, free subscriptions, or http://www.reliefweb.int/IRIN. 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