Oxfam responds to flooding disaster in Mozambique
11 February 2008
Around 95,000 people have been made homeless by flooding along the Zambezi valley in southern Mozambique. Oxfam is working to protect public health among those who have been displaced.
Early flooding in the river valleys have brought disaster to Mozambique, where 95,000 people have been displaced and hundreds of thousands more have lost crops and other assets. With more flooding expected in the coming weeks, humanitarian needs are expected to grow.
Oxfam's response
Oxfam is working in the Zambezi and Save river valleys, both directly and through partner organizations.
In Chupanga, Oxfam is supplying clean water and sanitation facilities to 7,000 people affected by last year floods in three resettlement centers, and is preparing to help some 2,500 newly displaced people who have just arrived. Oxfam is stocking hygiene and household kits, plastic sheets to improve shelters, and buckets for 2,000 families, as it anticipates the arrival of more people in the near future. Downstream, in Marromeu and Nhani, Oxfam is preparing to install emergency water systems for 600 families displaced by the flood.
In Mutarara, one of the most seriously affected areas in the Zambezi high basin, there is little reliable road access. Water levels are higher than they were at the peak of last year’s flood, so that some helicopter landing sites used by aid providers last year are now submerged. Oxfam is working in eight resettlement centers, with a focus on building latrines and increasing supplies of clean water for 30,000 people. Access to the centers is very difficult, and some deliveries must be carried out by helicopter.
In Tambara, Oxfam is working with local partner Magariro, providing water and sanitation to 10,000 people living on islands in the river. In the Save valley, local partner Ajoago has been engaged from the start of the flooding in search-and-rescue operations, using their radio-based early-warning system to alert communities about the floods. A joint Oxfam-Ajoago team is preparing water points, buckets, and latrines for more than 1,100 people in the Bea Pea resettlement center.
All Oxfam activities and responses are being coordinated with local authorities.
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