U N I T E D N A T I O N S
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
Integrated Regional Information Network (IRIN)

MOZAMBIQUE: Disaster contingency plans not yet finalised

JOHANNESBURG, 6 November (IRIN) - As the rainy season begins in
Mozambique, aid organisations and the government are still to complete
contingency plans to help cope with the possible repeat of the flood
disasters that have hit the country for two-years running.

Johannes Giorgis, a United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) advisor to
the government's disaster management authority - the INGC - told IRIN that
the government was in the process of finalising its national contingency
plan and that it was expected to be ready by mid-December.

But some humanitarian and diplomatic sources in Mozambique told IRIN that
although it was "commendable" that the government was drawing up a
contingency plan, they felt mid-December was too late.

"This plan should have been finalised by now and made public. Government
at all levels should have known by now what it is they need to do and how
it needs to be done in case of any kind of extreme weather," one
diplomatic source said. "By now when people ask the government what is the
contingency plan, they should be able to say 'Okay this is what we have
planned'. A good contingency plan is a vital part of early warning but it
needs to be ready at least by now."

According to Giorgis: "The plan will be based on information gathered both
on a district and provincial level. It will have input from a wide variety
of organisations including the United Nations and other non-governmental
agencies. But it will be the official government plan." He added that,
"this does not mean that agencies and organisations have themselves not
started planning and pre-positioning items that they anticipate might be
needed".

In its final report on flooding earlier this year, the Office of the
Resident Coordinator for the United Nations in Mozambique said that over
200,000 people had been displaced, with over 500,000 affected.

Giorgis said that climatologists had predicted "normal" rainfall for much
of Mozambique. "But normal does not rule out the possibility of problems,"
he said. "In some areas the ground is still quite saturated and so any
additional rainfall could result in inundation and not necessarily
flooding. Secondly the thing is normal could also mean slightly less
rain."

In its latest ministerial brief, the Southern African Development
Community (SADC) Food Security Network said that according to climate
experts the SADC region was likely to experience normal to above normal
rainfall in the 2001/2002 season. "The possibility of above normal rains
forecast for the first half of the season in the entire Limpopo River
Basin could result in above normal river levels," the brief said.
"However, normal rainfall is forecast in these same areas during the
second part of the season, when flooding typically occurs."

It warned that there was a "possibility" of above normal rains in the
lower Zambezi River Basin, including Kariba and Cabora Bassa dam areas,
with the "enhanced possibility" of above normal rainfall in the upper
Zambezi River Basin. The brief noted that the situation should be
"monitored closely".

Jonathan Cauldwell, from the UN's children's fund in Maputo told IRIN that
UNICEF had already made some preparations. "UNICEF has ordered US $1.4
million of contingency health, education and water and sanitation for
pre-positioning in 2001," Cauldwell said. He explained that "preparedness
actions" for the floods earlier this year, by UNICEF and its partner
agency the UN's World Food Programme allowed for a "rapid response".

Cauldwell said that UNICEF had started incorporating emergency programmes
into its national programming. "Staff have been trained in preparedness
and response to issues to ensure an integrated response to emergencies,"
Cauldwell noted. "The important lesson learned is that response to
emergencies should not be short term. This would mean disaster prone areas
would be targeted within our overall response strategies - HIV/AIDS,
girls education, early childhood development and care."

"The ultimate aim is that the situation of for example children and women
in high risk areas has been sufficiently strengthened so that coping
mechanisms are stronger, allowing them to respond better to extreme
disaster situations rather than a fly in response and leave," he said.

Joao Manja from WFP in Maputo told IRIN that the agency would start
pre-positioning food at the end of November. "By the end of this month we
would have started placing food in key areas to deal with the probability
of any flooding," Manja said.

[ENDS]

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[This item is delivered in the "africa-english" service of the UN's IRIN
humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views
of the United Nations. If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post
this item, please retain this credit and disclaimer. Reposting by commercial
sites requires written IRIN permission.]

Copyright (c) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2001