The Zambian government is coming under mounting criticism from local civic organisations for its apparent inability to assess recent flood damage across the country, making a coordinated response to the crisis impossible.
Torrential rains, which began in early December 2006, have swamped at least 21 of the country's 73 districts, washing away houses, bridges and crops, while at least two schools have been forced to close.
Other than this, there has been little information about the extent of the damage, besides the repetitive line by government's Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit (DMMU) that assessment of the affected areas was "still ongoing" and the findings would be published in "due course".
Simon Kabanda, a spokesperson for the civic advocacy group, Citizens Forum, told IRIN: "This delay in publishing the findings is totally unnecessary and it is now causing anxiety in the country. When there is an emergency, like a flood, people should quickly be told the truth instead of leaving it up to them to speculate."
Civic organisations initially put the number of people displaced by flooding at more than 20,000, but the permanent secretary in charge of the DMMU, Bernard Namachila, disputed the figure and maintained that the estimate by civil society was "much more than the actual number of affected people".
"As things stand, organisations that are willing to help are unable to do so because there is no concrete record of what exactly is needed or who needs what," Kabanda said. "We are appealing to the government to immediately state the exact findings of the assessment team in the affected areas, and what it [government] has so far done to correct the situation. As long as government remains silent, it means it is not doing what it is supposed to do ... we are deeply concerned."
According to Jacob Nkomoki, the chief meteorologist at the Zambia Meteorological Department, heavy rains were expected to continue and it would be "some time" before floodwaters subsided.
"The recent heavy rains in Zambia were caused by a very deep low-pressure trough over Western and North-Western provinces, and another one on the eastern side of the country in the Mozambican channel. In between, across the country we tended to have a very strong inter-tropical convergence zone, resulting in heavy rains," Nkomoki said. "We can't really tell when the situation will change."
The government has yet to ask any international aid agencies or relief organisations for assistance.
MOZAMBIQUE
Mozambique's central province of Zambezia remains on a flood alert after rising waters forced thousands of people to flee their homes.
"We now have the situation under control," Paulo Zucula, director of the National Disasters Management Institute (INGC), told IRIN, "but the rivers are still rising, albeit at a slower rate, and we are still only at the beginning of the most critical time [when floods occur], the cyclone season."
About 3,000 people who were temporarily housed in five schools in Quelimane, Zambezia's provincial capital, have returned to their homes with a week's food and concentrated chlorine to treat water to make it safe for consumption, Zuculu said.
During floods there is a far greater risk of cholera, a waterborne disease causing dehydration from acute diarrhoea and vomiting, which can lead to death within 24 hours if left untreated.
Floodwater from neighbouring Malawi's Shire River, which flows into Mozambique and becomes a tributary of the Zambezi River, has pushed downstream, causing a 500 people to be evacuated from islands in the river where it flows through Zambezia's Mutarara District.
"Most of the people go to the islands to farm rice in the lowlands there, but they got stranded during the floods," Zuculu said. The INGC used motorboats and local people assisted with canoes during a four-hour operation during the night to rescue people marooned by the rising water.
Chris McIvor, programme director for Save the Children (UK), said the Licaure River burst its banks about 20km from Quelimane last week, forcing another 672 people to flee their homes and take refuge in the nearby town of Nicoadala, where they were provided with tents, blankets and household kits.
Zuculu said the overall response was a success. "I have had no reports of anyone drowning during the floods, or during the rescue operations. Five people did die, but not from drowning: a tree fell on one person not in the flood area, and the others were struck by lightning."
However, McIvor said disease a major threat in Quelimane, which is situated on low-lying land. "Drainage is especially a problem there; there are puddles of stagnant water around the city, increasing the risks of cholera and malaria. The land is now waterlogged, so the risk of more flooding is high."
Even if there were no more rains in the immediate area, the province, which forms part of Zambezi River basin, was susceptible to the effects of rainfall in neighbouring Malawi. The Shire River has its source in Malawi's southern region and flows through Mozambique before joining the Zambezi River. Recent heavy rainfall in Malawi could result in the Zambezi bursting its banks.
MALAWI
Along the upper reaches of the Shire River, which flows from Malawi into Mozambique, about 8,000 families have been displaced after around 400 villages were flooded in the Chikwawa District in the south of the country, district commissioner Harrison Lende told IRIN. In nearby Nsanje district, which the Shire River also flows through, a further "116 villages have been affected, with about 2,682 houses destroyed," according to Arther Lithenya, a project officer for Catholic Relief and Development, a faith-based aid and assistance organisation.
Lende said makeshift camps had been set up for those who have not taken refuge with relatives in the area, and seven people had drowned.
Many of the families who make their livelihoods along the river, which sustains fishermen and the fertile soil along its banks offers good farming, were reluctant to leave the area for higher ground when the waters rose, Lithenya said.
According to minister for disaster and preparedness Richard Msowoya, "People living in the low-lying areas of the lower Shire refused to move to higher grounds because they do not want to leave behind the graves of their ancestors," and those who had sought refuge on higher ground were complaining of a lack of drinking water.
The government has allocated US$150,000 this year for the flood victims.
Although the heavy rains have eased in Malawi, the rainy season usually lasts until the end of March.
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This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
