US $27 million needed for central flood victims

At least US $27 million dollars are needed to resettle 85,000 flood victims who have been sheltered in government-run accommodation centers in central Mozambique, the ‘Noticias’ newspaper reported on Wednesday. The resettlement programme includes water supply infrastructures, sanitation systems, roads, health units and schools, according to Orlando Francisco, Zambezia Provincial delegate of the country’s relief agency, the National Disasters Management Institute (INGC). Francisco said that of the total amount, road building programmes would consume the bulk of the money. He noted that some of the displaced have expressed their intention of remaining and building their new homes in the areas surrounding the accommodation centers, while about 40 percent of the families would prefer to move, either back to their places of origin or to others of their choice. Some of the families, from such districts as Nicoadala, Maganja da Costa, Namacurra and Mocuba, who had taken refuge in churches and schools, returned immediately after the flood waters started to subside, Francisco said. “We have already identified areas for resettling the families who are currently in accommodation centers. There is a programme, that we have been adjusting systematically, thinking of the daily dynamics of the process”, said Francisco. He added that the INGC is presently working in two pilot centres, in the district of Morrumbala, supported by the U.S.-based NGO World Vision and the Mozambican Environment Ministry. The priority is the demarcation of land for resettlement and, because this is a time-consuming job, and the government is training local residents to help speed up the process, the relief official said. “What we want is for each family to have its own plot of land and drinking water by the end of July. Other programmes will be carried out in the medium or long term”, he said.