2007 Floods: Mozambique humanitarian situation update, 18 February
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© UNICEF Mozambique/Thierry Delvigne-Jean |
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Children and their families wait to be registered Chupanga camp, near Caia (province of Sofala), where some three thousand people have sought refuge from severe floods in central Mozambique. February 2007. |
Major Developments
The Cahora Bassa dam discharge rate remained stable at 5,500 m3/s as of 17 February. The water levels in Zumbo, Tete and Mutarara (Tete province) are decreasing, in addition to those of the Revúbuè and Chire rivers, and levels are expected to decrease further over the next 48 hours. Further downstream, the levels continue to increase. Over the next 48 hours, levels are expected to stabilise in Caia and to increase slightly in Marromeu (both in Sofala province).
Over the next 48 hours, light to moderate rains are predicted within the central and northern zones of Mozambique and in Zambia and Tanzania. There is the potential for heavy rainfall in Malawi.
As of 17 February, the National Institute of Disaster Management (INGC) estimates that approximately 96,146 people have been displaced due to the floods. An estimated 46,951 people are currently in the accommodation centres and 49,195 in the resettlement centres that were established after the 2001 floods.
Needs Assessment
The UNICEF team in Caia district attended a joint meeting with the Provincial Directorate of Health, the Mozambican Red Cross and Food for the Hungry International on 17 February. Sanitation was identified as the most critical issue in the accommodation/resettlement centres and the division of labour of support to the centres in the area has been provisionally agreed, to be finalised on 18 February. It has also been agreed that the same organisations conducting sanitation work in the centres will distribute the Long Lasting Insecticidal Nets (LLINs). Ongoing monitoring of the nutritional status of children is being undertaken in the centres. An active case finding assessment is underway, in which children are being screened using weight for height measurement.
The UNICEF team based in Mopeia (Zambezia province) continued to work with the INGC and other partners on assessing the situation in the centres. Priority needs identified include education materials (360 children are receiving schooling under trees with 6 teachers, and others are attending local schools, which are already overburdened), and water and sanitation materials. Supplies are being sent from Caia on 18 February, including 6 tents to address the needs of the children being schooled under trees (see below – WASH and Education sections). There is currently one health worker at the centre in Mopeia, who has basic health kits and medicine. The nearest health post is 2.5km away and the nearest hospital 5km away. The results of the rapid MUAC assessment conducted in Mopeia on 128 children indicated one case of severe malnutrition and one case of moderate malnutrition. The children have been referred to the nearest health post.
The UNICEF team in Mutarara (Tete province) has reported the priority needs as tents for temporary education facilities, mosquito nets and health supplies. There is currently no health facility in the centre and very limited basic supplies. Needs are being consolidated and responded to in line with the INGC distribution plan.
The teams undertaking the multi-sectoral assessment to build upon initial assessments are travelling to the affected areas on 18 February to begin work. The assessment will be conducted by governmental and non-governmental partners and will cover areas including education, food, nutrition, health, HIV/AIDS, water and sanitation, market access, shelter, protection, assistance received, status of basic infrastructure and security.
UNICEF Response
Coordination support
UNICEF has supported the INGC to develop a coordination matrix, which allows partners to map where each organisation is working and on which areas, so that gaps in implementation and the distribution of supplies can be clearly highlighted as programmes move forward.
WASH
- In Caia, with the increased number of water point users, other sources for supply of water are being identified and put in place to ensure that the minimum standards required for daily water consumption are met, including water storage tanks (bladders and rigid tanks) with pumping equipment and water treatment plants, depending on the results of technical assessments. Upon request from INGC, UNICEF has facilitated the development of a supply needs matrix for each Accommodation Centre which takes into consideration the minimum standards required and the number of the population affected.
- Significant quantities of WASH supplies are arriving in Caia, which will contribute to accelerating emergency response activities. With UNICEF’s assistance, 1000 latrine slabs, 185 plastic sheets, 950 jerrycans and chlorine (HTH, tablets and sachets) have been provided. Additional quantities including buckets (1,300), latrine slabs (1,500), jerricans (5,000) and 20 rigid tanks are expected to arrive on the 16th February from Beira and other supplies (13 bladders, 1,250kg of HTH and 100 boxes of clorofloc sachets) will be also arrive in the coming days from Maputo. More than 3,000 affected people will have improved drinking water and environmental sanitation as a result of the provision of these supplies. Also large quantities of WASH emergency supplies, procured with assistance from OXFAM and the Red Cross, are expected to arrive within this week.
- Water and sanitation supplies – 5 plastic sheets, 5 boxes of chlorine and 60 latrine slabs – are being sent from Caia to Mopeia on 18 February.
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© UNICEF Mozambique/Thierry Delvigne-Jean |
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A UNICEF Health Officer discusses the living conditions with a Red Cross worker in a camp near Caia (province of Sofala). February 2007. |
Health and nutrition
- UNICEF’s initial assessment in centres in Caia has found that while children are undernourished at this point, malnutrition is not presently a big problem but could be in future if present conditions exist. For those centres that have no health services, the District Directorate of Health has put in place temporary health posts manned by Red Cross volunteers. Nutrition services are being strengthened with the provision of Corn Soya Blend (CSB) – a nutritious food supplement – from WFP and BP5 – a compact food - from UNICEF to run a supplementary feeding programme for at least 50 beneficiaries identified as suffering from moderate malnutrition.
- Integrated mobile health brigades have been mobilised to screen all children under five years of age for acute and moderate malnutrition and ensure appropriate referral to health facilities or supplementary feeding sites. They will also cover de-worming and Vitamin A supplements.
- Activities regarding health education are now in place in collaboration with NGO partners (Oxfam, CVM, HFI and MSF) and are being coordinated by the local health authorities.
- During the rapid nutrition assessment conducted by the Provincial Directorate of Health in Mopeia, supplies including vitamin A supplements, deworming tablets, iron tablets, oral rehydration salts and anti-malarial drugs were distributed to health workers.
- UNICEF is facilitating the coordination of malaria prevention. Primary prevention of malaria in temporary camps is best done with IRS (Indoor Residual house Spraying) which not only reduces mosquitoes but also has the added advantage of killing all the flies that transmit diarrhoeal diseases.
- The Malaria Control Programme of the Ministry of Health has been working in Sofala province to provide IRS in Caia and Marromeu. An IRS programme had already been completed in Caia before the flooding and should start shortly in Accommodation Centres in the district. The same is being planned for the accommodation centres in Zambezia and Tete. For added protection, particularly as families return to their homes, UNICEF has been working closely with partners to provide all families affected with LLINs (Long Lasting Insecticidal Nets), with two nets per family. UNICEF is supplying LLINs to Sofala, Tete and Manica. USAID will supply nets to Zambezia. In Tete, UNICEF is working with World Vision for distribution, while in Zambezia, distribution will be coordinated by Population Services International with support from USAID. Further LLINs are available if necessary in Tete, Maputo and Quelimane if the number of displaced people increases greatly.
Education
- 6 of the 31 tents in Caia are being sent to Mopeia on 18 February to be used as temporary learning spaces. An INGC technician, with experience in installing the large tents to be used as temporary learning spaces, is arriving in Caia on 18 February to support the installation of the remaining tents.
- 920 kits of basic education materials have been delivered to district education authorities in Mutarara and Caia for distribution to learners whose learning materials were destroyed in the floods. A further 2,600 will be delivered in the coming days in Caia and Marromeu. In Zambezia province, 4,480 learners’ kits are pre-positioned at the regional Ministry of Education and Culture warehouse in Quelimane, along with 660 teachers’ kits and will be supplemented by 5,000 more learners’ kits from the 16th. These will be delivered to the schools affected in Mopeia, Morrumbala, Chinde and Nicoadala districts.
Protection
- UNICEF has been working with the District Director of Women and Social Action to develop a registration form to assess the situation of children in the accommodation centres in more detail, particularly orphaned and separated children. The Director will present it at the District Administrator’s coordination meeting on 18 February, following which activists will begin the registration immediately.
