OCHA Situation Report No. 18
Mozambique - Floods
7 May 2001


This report summarises information received from the UN Resident
Coordinator's Office in Mozambique.

Situation

1.  The Cahora Bassa dam began to release more water on 18 April, to
reduce the level of water behind the dam.  The reservoir is currently
falling about 5-10 cm per day, with a discharge of 4,700 m3/s as of 3 May.
Water levels of the Zambezi have been going down, while it remained 1.3 m
above flood level at Caia on 22 April.  The Pungoe River in Sofala
province fell below flood level on 23 April.  The rainy season has ended
and no significant rains have fallen in Mozambique in recent weeks nor are
expected in coming weeks.

2.  The emergency coordination team is conducting a preliminary review of
the situation in the four affected provinces.  This review includes an
evaluation of the existing capacity to support the distribution of seeds
and tools, as well as the existing stocks in order to coordinate the
available transport as efficiently as possible.

3.  Reports indicate that some families have begun to leave the temporary
accommodation centre at Charre, in Mutarara district, Tete province, to
return home.  The population in the accommodation centres is now estimated
at 223,095, while the total population affected by the floods has risen to
513,314, including people whose homes have been cut off and isolated.

4.  The area affected by floods this year in the Zambezi, Licungo and
Pungoe basins is some 200,000 km2, compared to 130,000 km2 of floods in
the south of the country in 2000.  The Mozambican Ministry of Defence is
preparing a final report of its operations in the emergency. Preliminary
data indicate that 37,645 people were rescued or evacuated by the air
force and the navy using two MI8 helicopters and rubber boats. Military
personnel are being withdrawn from the flood areas from 27 April.

5.  The Mozambican Government plans to call a donor conference towards the
end of May in order to mobilise support for post-flood reconstruction
activities. The Coordinating Council for Disaster Management (CCGC), which
met on 13 April to discuss the current emergency, proposed the conference.
One of the recommendations from the CCGC was that priority should be given
to providing humanitarian assistance to the population in the temporary
accommodation centres. Decisions on assistance for affected population
outside the centres should be taken on a case-by-case basis.  Technical
groups have been set up to prepare the documents for the conference, in
consultation with civil society and the private sector.

6.  Logistics: With regard to air assets, the three helicopters and the
Buffalo fixed-wing airplane operated by the Joint Logistic Operation
Centre have ended their mission. A group of NGOs has hired a helicopter
jointly to operate out of Quelimane.  The National Road Administration
(ANE) reported that the stretch of road between Mutua and Tica, in the
Beira Corridor, is now under repair. This piece of road was closed four
times this year when the Pungoe River flooded. Work has also started on
repairing the almost 300 km of road from Dondo to Caia in Sofala province.  
In Zambezia province, repair work has begun on the roads between the
following locations: Namacurra and Macuse; Mocuba and Maganja da Costa;
Maganja da Costa and Mabala; Maganja da Costa and Nante; Mocubela and
Pebane; Mopeia and Luabo; Quelimane and Madal; and Morrumbala and Chire.  
Roads that have already been reopened in Zambezia province include:
Quelimane and Namacurra; Namacurra and Malei; Malei and Maganja da Costa;
Maganja da Costa and Mocubela; and Malei and Mocuba.  Some roads in the
areas worst hit by the floods are still submerged, thus preventing repair
work.  Information is not yet available regarding the completion schedules
of road works under way.

7.  Agriculture: FAO reported that the area of crops lost in the floods is
now estimated to be 71,900 hectares.  The distribution of seed and tool
kits has been completed in Machanga and Chibabava districts in Sofala
province, and Mutarara district in Tete province. Distribution of kits has
begun in Magoe and Zumbo districts in Tete province, Caia and Cheringoma
districts in Sofala province and Inhasunge district in Zambezia province.
The Mozambican NGO Kulima will coordinate the distribution of all the
Italian-funded kits from FAO.  Information provided by FAO shows that
15,000 families are not covered by the plan for assistance.  FAO is
preparing an appeal for assistance to farmers in the 2001/2002 crop
season, which begins in October.

8.  Health and Hygiene: The Ministry of Health reported on 26 April that
110 cases of cholera in Nhamayabwe, the capital of Mutarara district in
Tete province, had not resulted in any deaths. Two new cases a day are
being reported, compared to a peak of 27 cases on 13 April. The incidence
of cholera began to fall from 14 April, since measures to ensure
clean/safe water supplies were introduced on 12 April.  Cholera has been
confirmed at Sena in Caia district in Sofala province, on the south bank
of the Zambezi River.  By 25 April, 22 cases had been reported, with no
deaths. All but two of the cases in the cholera outbreak have occurred
outside the accommodation centres.  MSF is running cholera treatment
centres in Traquino and Nhamayabwe, while ACF has opened a similar centre
in Sena. Technical and supply support is being provided by UNICEF. The
Mozambique Red Cross, MSF and World Vision International are conducting a
door-to-door public awareness campaign on clean water and the use of
latrines.  UNICEF has distributed a further 7,000 latrine slabs through
the Tete Provincial Directorate of Public Works and Housing.

9.  Health (nutritional survey): From 4 to 6 April 2001, the Ministry of
Health with support from UNICEF conducted a nutritional survey among
flood-affected households that are not displaced and have not received
food aid in Caia (Sofala), Luabo (Zambezia) and Inhangoma (Tete).  The
results of the survey indicate a poor nutritional state among children.
The report concluded that these nutritional problems are probably caused
by the emergency situation, since these districts have not shown serious
nutritional problems in normal years.  The Ministry recommendations were
as follows:1) continuation of nutritional surveillance, covering
households inside and outside the accommodation centres to locate areas
with serious nutritional problems; 2) investigation of the possibility of
providing feeding supplements to children under three years old and
pregnant and lactating women; and 3) the inclusion of households outside
the accommodation centres in food aid programmes, either in free
distribution or food for work. Moreover, therapeutic feeding centres
should be available for the treatment of child with acute malnutrition.

10.  Shelter: Demarcation of plots is under way in Sussundenga district in
Manica province, in preparation for the resettlement of displaced people.  
Two accommodation centres in Sussundenga district are currently
accommodating 2,190 people.  The Ministry of Public Works & Housing has
provided its provincial directorates in the four affected provinces with
designs for basic housing that may be used in the resettlement of
displaced people.  The cost of a two-roomed house is approximately MZM 24
million (approx. USD 1,286).  Eight resettlement areas have already been
identified in Mutarara district in Tete province.


International Assistance

11.  According to OCHA, the Governments of Australia, Canada, Denmark,
Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Morocco, the Netherlands,
Portugal, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States have
pledged or provided cash and/or in-kind contributions bilaterally or
through NGOs or the UN system.  As of 7 May, OCHA recorded USD
13.7million.

12.  OCHA is prepared to serve as channel for cash contributions to be
used for immediate relief assistance, in co-ordination/consultation with
relevant organisations in the United Nations system.  Funds should be
transferred to OCHA account no. CO-590.160.0, Swift code: UBSWCHZ12A at
the UBS AG, P.O. Box 2770, CH-1211 Geneva 2, with reference: "OCHA -
Mozambique - floods 2001".  OCHA provides donors with written confirmation
and pertinent details concerning the utilisation of the funds contributed

13.  Information on contributions to this disaster may be found by
clicking on Financial Tracking at the top of the page for this disaster on
the OCHA Internet Website (http://www.reliefweb.int). Donors are requested
to verify this table and inform OCHA Geneva of
corrections/additions/values. Donors are encouraged to notify OCHA Geneva
of their contributions to this disaster using the OCHA Standardized
Contributions Recording Format, available electronically in the above
mentioned Financial Tracking Website.

14.  This Situation Report and further information on ongoing
emergencies are also available on the OCHA Internet Website at
http://www.reliefweb.int



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In case of emergency only: Tel. +41-22-917 20 10

Focal Points (OCHA Disaster Response Branch):
  Mr. J. Boutroue (Chief, Africa I and the Middle East)
  Ms. Y. Sawada (Desk Officer) direct Tel. +41 22 917 1438/1768

Press contact:
  (GVA)  Mr. Donato Kiniger-Passigli, direct Tel. +41-22-91726 53
   (NY)  Ms. Phyllis Lee, direct Tel. +1-212-963 48 32


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