10 January 2008
Maputo — As the level of the Zambezi river creeps ever higher, Mozambique's National Civil Protection Unit (UNAPROC) is planning to take action to evacuate people trapped by the rising waters, reports Thursday's issue of the Maputo daily "Noticias".
Two areas are causing particular concern. One is Mutarara district, in Tete province. Although many people have already been evacuated from the most vulnerable part of the district, the Inhangoma administrative post, at the confluence of the Zambezi and the Shire rivers, other parts of Mutarara are now at risk. The waters of the Zambezi are now invading residential areas of the district capital, the small town of Nhamayabue.
The second highly vulnerable district is Chinde, in Zambezia province, at the mouth of the Zambezi. People who have insisted on staying near the river banks in Chinde will be at serious risk if the Cahora Bassa dam is obliged to increase its discharges yet again.
Currently, the dam is releasing 6,600 cubic metres of water a second into the Zambezi. Valdemar Jessen, the central regional director of the Mozambican government's relief agency, the National Disasters Management Institute (INGC) warned that, should the discharges reach 8,000 cubic metres a second, "the people who insist on staying in the low lying areas of the Zambezi Valley could be affected, and this could lead to deaths".
In Chinde, added Jessen, "we must be prepared to receive people in the resettlement centres that were opened during the floods of 2007. We are on red alert, and this is not the time to raise the awareness of people of people still in dangerous areas, but to remove them".
It is estimated that 5,000 people remain to be evacuated. For this task, UNAPROC has one helicopter and seven motor boats available, but if necessary it can mobilise other resources.
Other districts on the banks of the Zambezi have already been evacuated. People who were living in low-lying areas in Tambara district (Manica province), in Chemba, Caia and Marromeu (in Sofala), and Morrumbala and Mopeia (in Zambezia) have all been moved to safety.
On Wednesday, a large government delegation, including the Ministers of Public Works, Felicio Zacarias, of Defence, Tobias Dai, and of the Environment, Luciano de Castro, visited the flood-stricken zones of the Zambezi Valley, to see the situation for themselves.
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