Unusually early and heavy rains have destroyed the homes and the livelihoods
of nearly 450,000 people in Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe, and
that number could rise to 1.3 million by April when the rain finally lets
up, said a UN Consolidated Appeal Process (CAP), launched on Monday.”Regional forecasters predict above normal rainfall across most of Southern
Africa until April 2008, and national forecasters in all four affected
countries agree. We are also likely to experience cyclones before the
conclusion of the season. We therefore expect further flood related
displacement and damage,” Kelly David, head of the UN Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in southern Africa, told IRIN.The international community has commended Southern African governments and
disaster management agencies, but acknowledged that the affected countries
were now being overwhelmed.”Governments and their international partners were far better prepared this
year to respond to the floods. This is because we worked closely together
throughout 2007 to prepare for exactly this eventuality. As a result, relief
items had already been placed in areas likely be flooded and this enabled a
quicker response,” David said.
“The governments have done an excellent job, and they urgently need the
support of the international community to ensure that all those displaced by
the floods receive the food, shelter, water, medicine and other basic
necessities they require to survive,” said John Holmes, UN
Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief
Coordinator.”Despite the scale of these floods, the governments and the international
humanitarian community have so far prevented this crisis from becoming a
catastrophe.” Holmes warned that “Without additional funds, we might not be
able to cope if the situation does get worse – and that would leave large
numbers of people at greater risk.”
A regional response
Mozambique has been hardest hit. The CAP appealed for over $35 million to
address the needs of more than 680,000 Mozambicans currently affected or at
immediate risk of floodwater. A statement released by OCHA noted that
“90,000 hectares of crops have been swamped, destroying the livelihoods of
many subsistence farming families.””In Malawi, international partners are seeking about $17 million,” OCHA
said, adding that flooding had hit 15 of the country’s 28 districts,
affecting more than 152,000 people; over 700 cholera cases have been
reported so far and the situation would likely worsen in the coming weeks.
In Zambia $18.5 million was requested to assist 20,000 people, and in
Zimbabwe $15.8 million would be needed to help a further 15,000.Swaziland, Lesotho and Namibia have also experienced heavy rain that has
affected thousands but governments have not sought international assistance.
Parts of Madagascar, hit by Tropical Cyclone Fame earlier this month, have
also been flooded.
Ready for the rain
“We are only halfway through the rainy season and with more heavy rain
expected we must be able to assist potentially hundreds of thousands more
people,” said Holmes.The CAP document, titled Southern Africa Region Preparedness and Response
Plan, Floods 2008, which accompanied the appeal, pointed out that national
and regional meteorologists had predicted continued heavy rain and a
deteriorating humanitarian situation.”This appeal, which is unusual in that seeks both to meet immediate needs
and also to manage the risks we face in the coming weeks from the continuing
rain, is a result of that cooperation and planning,” David said.”This plan seeks to change the pattern of previous appeals by seeking
funding before humanitarian needs are already acute and large scale. It
aruges that prevention is cheaper than remedy, and will help avert
suffering,” she commented. In previous years appeals tended to be launched
after floods had peaked and humanitarian needs were extensive and immediate.”There is an urgent need to prepare for this known and imminent threat and,
more important, [aid agencies] will be more effective in averting suffering
and deepening of vulnerability that would set back the region’s development
agenda again,” the CAP document said.The funds would be used to provide vital food, water and sanitation
supplies, shelter, family kits, medicines and education materials. The
development of emergency preparedness, response and recovery measures,
including the pre-positioning of food and supplies, would be critical.The flood-affected regions in the four countries have some of the highest
HIV prevalence rates in the world. According to the OCHA statement, “The
displacements and losses caused by floods will therefore have deeper
consequences on HIV-affected households by disrupting HIV services and by
undermining the ability of families to cope with the disease.”