Clean Water Focus of Oxfam Relief Effort in Mozambique
21 February 2007
Setting up water and sanitation services for 10,000 will help prevent disease for displaced people.
Water and sanitation equipment delivered to Mozambique on Feb. 16 is now being set up in camps for people displaced by flooding in the central part of the country. Oxfam staff members are now concentrating their effort in Chupanga, in the central part of Sofala province, where more than 5,000 people displaced by flooding along the Zambezi River are gathering.
According to reports by Oxfam field staff members, the Chupanga camp has swelled from 2,200 people to 5,438 in three days. When Oxfam staff members arrived on February 15 there were four latrines; by the 19th Oxfam staff members had installed 25 latrines and were expecting to put in 10 to 15 more per day this week.
Oxfam has set up a water purification system in Chupanga that will deliver 15 liters (about 3.3 gallons) per person per day for up to 6,000 people. Oxfam also plans to distribute 1,000 emergency kits to displaced families. The kits include kitchen items like pots and pans and utensils, two large blankets, a 20-liter (4.4-gallon) bucket to hold clean water, soap, and, most importantly, a thick plastic sheet families can use for shelter from the rains. As of Feb. 19 Oxfam had distributed these emergency kits to 577 families in Chupanga.
Oxfam is also planning to distribute 1,000 mosquito bed nets in Chupanga and other areas to help prevent malaria, and 2,000 hygiene kits consisting of soap and toothbrushes and other items that will help displaced people keep clean and healthy.
The government of Mozambique has asked Oxfam to provide assistance at five other sites that are all together currently serving approximately 2,200 people. The agency expects to assist 10,000 people over the course of the relief operation over the next three months, and devote nearly $1 million in funds.
The government of Mozambique has announced that more than 120,000 people are now being affected by the floods. Although the total number killed in the latest flooding is not confirmed, early warning systems set up after the 2001 floods that killed 700 people have kept the death toll down considerably.
The government and aid groups are watching closely the track of cyclone Favio, which is heading west out of the Indian Ocean and is forecasted to cross the Mozambique Channel between the mainland and Madagascar and make landfall on Thursday February 22. The storm is currently losing some strength, but is expected to hit the southern coast, and bring more rain and high winds to areas already that are already flooded.
