U.S. AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT BUREAU FOR HUMANITARIAN RESPONSE (BHR) OFFICE OF U.S. FOREIGN DISASTER ASSISTANCE (OFDA) SOUTHERN AFRICA - Floods Fact Sheet #24, Fiscal Year (FY) 2000 April 14, 2000
Note: This is the final fact sheet for the Southern Africa floods response. Regional Overview - According to NOAA, a storm system developing over the southern Mozambique Channel has moved steadily south-eastward during the last 24 hours. The system, which is causing some shower activity over the extreme southern tip of Madagascar, is expected to weaken and to continue to move in a south-easterly direction over the next 12 to 24 hours, producing more showers over Madagascar's southern tip before it dissipates in the southwest Indian Ocean. - NOAA reports that the dry season has begun over the northern and central sections of southern Africa. NOAA believes that these changing weather patterns, characteristic of fall and winter, will expand northward to include Botswana, Zimbabwe, and the southern half of Mozambique, and will make any more tropical storms in the region this season unlikely. Mozambique - Floodwaters: According to the April 12 report from the National Institute for Disaster Management (INGC), rivers in the northern Mozambique are below flood level, as are the Buzi and Pungue Rivers in central Mozambique. The Incomati and Limpopo Rivers in southern Mozambique are still at critical levels. The Limpopo River is draining very slowly, and downtown Xai Xai is still under water. - Relief Activities: On April 13, Action Aid reported that a truck carrying 10 MT of food and five 25-person tents arrived in Pebane on April 12. The five tents were given by Action Aid to provide temporary housing for students displaced from a cyclone-damaged dormitory. Action Aid, the U.N. World Food Program (WFP) and the Mozambican Red Cross (CVM) provided the food; its distribution is being managed by INGC and CVM. Action Aid is also working with local authorities to procure roofing materials in Beira for use in Pebane and Maganja da Costa. - Health: On April 13, the GRM reported a cholera outbreak in Chicualacuala District of Gaza Province. A joint assessment team, composed of personnel from IFRC, INGC, MSF, WFP, and UNICEF, plans to travel to Chicualacuala on April 14 to investigate the cholera situation there. In addition, the GRM is sending cholera kits to the area. - Food and Agriculture: WFP has estimated that more than 500,000 people will need food aid for the next several months. Since February 11, WFP has delivered more than 8,000 MT of food commodities countrywide. According to WFP, populations in need are primarily in the southern regions worst hit by the floods. - WFP sees no need for extended food aid in the northern provinces of Zambezia and Nampula, which were hit on April 8 by Cyclone Hudah. Stockpiles built up as a contingency in anticipation of the cyclone were adequate to meet most of the needs. - WFP reported that there have been no breaks in its food pipeline to central Mozambique. This is primarily due to heavy borrowing of food stocks from a planned development program that has now been delayed. As road access improves, the rate of distribution is expected to increase substantially. The amount of food distributed last week was twice as much as during the previous week. - During April, WFP plans to feed 170,400 people in central Mozambique (142,800 in Sofala province and 27,600 in Manica province), representing 30% of the total of 590,800 planned beneficiaries for all of Mozambique. These numbers are expected to continue at a similar level through June, after which they may drop substantially if there is a reasonable harvest. - WFP will conduct only direct food distributions until June, but will then consider shifting to food-for-work programs. - The USAID/DART field officer based in Beira reported on April 13 that the food aid effort in central Mozambique is going well. Food appears to be getting out to the people who need it, despite significant logistical challenges. - According to the USAID/DART field officer, WFP is still dependent on helicopters to reach many places that are not yet accessible by road. With limited air assets, WFP has been taking food as far as possible by road for further transport by air when necessary. WFP is also using currently available air assets to pre-position as much food as possible in areas that may be inaccessible by road. Repairs to main roads are expected to take another two to four weeks. - Food stocks provided by USAID/Food for Peace (FFP) consisting of 1,000 MT of beans and 250 MT of vegetable oil are expected to arrive in beira next week. - Transport/Logistics: WFP reported on April 13 that it released two South African military helicopters, each with a capacity of 0.5 MT, and one 1.5 MT capacity aircraft. WFP is also turning over the operation a 2 MT capacity helicopter to USAID/OFDA-grantee Airserv. These changes will allow WFP to continue operating its remaining mixed fleet of fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters through the end of April. WFP will now also be able to continue running its 6 MT capacity Buffalo fixed-wing cargo aircraft through the first week of May. - The Airserv fleet will continue operating through the second week of May. - WFP and the Joint Logistics Operations Cell (JLOC) have requested from relief agencies complete information on short-term requirements for airlift capacity in order to better coordinate and prioritize air delivery of relief commodities during the next few weeks. The JLOC reported on April 12 that available air capacity has fallen from 59 aircraft at the height of the operation to 29 aircraft now. - The relief community in Mozambique is increasingly turning to other forms of transportation, including boats, to deliver relief commodities. The JLOC estimates that there are approximately 160 boats available for relief operations. - The JLOC plans to collect information from donors on boat donations in order to coordinate boat assets. - Accommodation Centers: At the April 13 INGC coordination meeting, the INGC announced that extended and comprehensive assessments of accommodation centers would begin April 18. These assessments will be carried out jointly by the INGC, Ministry of Agriculture, and relief organizations. The assessments will seek to confirm population numbers, humanitarian conditions and needs in the accommodation centers, and are expected to take up to two weeks. U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Response - USAID/OFDA has approved an additional $500,000 in funding for WFP for emergency air transport in Mozambique. The additional funding will permit WFP to extend its emergency air operations through mid- May. - On April 13, USAID/ OFDA provided $199,264 to Action Contre la Faim (ACF) for an emergency water and sanitation program benefitting 175,000 flood-affected people in the Machanga, Buzi, and Chibabava districts of Sofala Province. The program entails temporary distribution of water, provision of chlorine products to households with contaminated water; chlorination of 40 open wells and boreholes, and minor emergency rehabilitation of 40 water points. - On April 12, the Miami-Dade Search and Rescue (SAR) component of the USAID/DART in Mozambique conducted training on boat operations and rescue techniques for personnel from Food for the Hungry International (FHI). The training was conducted using the three rubber inflatable boats donated by the Miami- Dade SAR team following their deployment to Mozambique earlier this year in response to the February/March floods. - On April 13, the Miami-Dade SAR team trained 25 people from two NGOs (World Vision and Dorcas) and the Mozambican Maritime Administration. The training emphasized hands-on boat operation. - To date, USAID has provided more than $19.1 million in response to the flood crisis in southern Africa. This response includes $10.3 million provided through USAID/OFDA for search and rescue support, procurement and transport of relief commodities, and grants for the provision of emergency assistance. USAID/FFP has also allocated $7 million for emergency Title I