Humanitarian response

Mozambique humanitarian situation update, 11 January 2008.

Major Developments

The water levels of the Pungue and Save and Licungo rivers, although below alert levels, remain a cause for concern. The Buzi river has shown a sharp increase overnight. The level of the Zambezi River continues to increase, particularly over the last 24 hours. Water levels were reported at 6.81m in Caia at 06:00h on 9 January and 7.00m at 06:00h on 10 January. The road from Caia to Sena (and for onward travel to Mutarara) is becoming impassable at two points.

Output from the Cahora Bassa Dam remains at 6,600 cubic meters per second although the level in the Cahora Bassa Dam is increasing.
Water levels are expected to continue to increase downriver of the dam.
A total of 31,525 hectares of arable land has been lost.
A total of 47 schools have been directly affected by the floods.
The National Emergency Operations Centre (CENOE) indicated that subsequent to the meeting of the Council of Ministers in Quelimane, the Government has authorized compulsory rescue operations of people in areas of risk. The focus of the operations will be on Mutarara district where many people remain in flood prone areas.
The CENOE is reporting a total number of 9,835 families currently in resettlement centres across the flood affected districts, which corresponds to approximately 48,000 people. 1,710 families were rescued in the last 24 hours from Mutarara district only.
According to the National Meteorological institute (INAM) moderate to heavy rainfall is expected over the period 11-13 January in the centre of the country. Moderate to heavy rainfall is expected in Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe over the same period. These predictions are raising concerns in Caia of further increases in levels of the Zambezi and Chire rivers and of the Save, Buzi and Pungue rivers.

Preliminary Assessments

Since 4 January, a team of three UNICEF staff members has been deployed to the worst affected areas for preliminary assessments and preliminary response actions, following consultations with the INGC. The last two days the team has visited Caia district and Mutarara district. In Mutarara, the situation is worsening rapidly. The ongoing assessment indicates infrastructural damage, displacement and loss of crops as areas of main concern. Due to the moderate to heavy rainfall in Mozambique combined with the influx of water from neighbouring countries the situation is expected to continue to deteriorate.

UNICEF Response

In the flood affected areas UNICEF is focusing on supporting the local water, health and education authorities and other partners to distribute supplies and to monitor and assess the situation in the centres to ensure needs are identified and immediately addressed:

Coordination, assessment and logistics and telecommunication support

The deployed team in Caia continues to carry out assessments in the resettlement and accommodation centres in affected areas to evaluate the status and determine the basic needs of evacuated and displaced populations, especially children and women. Field reports are received in UNICEF Country Office once every two days and are compiled in the UNICEF Emergency Situation Centre. UNICEF situation reports also provide an input into the wider humanitarian communities’ reports, which are as yet to be regularized.

The deployed team in Caia is continuously in contact with the local authorities and organizations in the area for information sharing and coordination of sectoral and cluster efforts. Meetings have been conducted with District Directors of various line ministries, local emergency operation centres of the INGC, international and national non-governmental organization, the media and other organizations in the area.

The Emergency Telecommunication Cluster conducted a cluster meeting in Caia to discuss the installation of a VSAT, teleconferencing equipment and BGANs in the central and regional operations bases of INGC. The VSAT in Caia is now operational and its coverage is being expanded as more humanitarian partners move to the affected areas.

A multi-sector food-security and nutrition needs assessment is planned to take place between 13 and 18 January in affected areas to determine medium-term emergency response needs following the immediate response. The assessment is being carried out with the INGC, line ministries, UN agencies including UNICEF and non-governmental partners.

Supplies and programmatic response

Health. Cholera prevention measures are being supported in flood affected areas to avoid a cholera outbreak. UNICEF is working with Health authorities to ensure cholera treatment services are available in the event of an outbreak in affected districts.
Malaria prevention initiatives are being initiated by district and provincial health authorities, including the spraying of accommodation centres. UNICEF is supporting the distribution of insecticide treated nets and will also work with local partners to ensure timely social mobilization efforts on the use of malaria nets at household and camp level.
Nutrition. The District Directorate of Health will carry out nutrition screening in tandem with the registration of vulnerable groups.
Water and Sanitation. Provincial and district water authorities are being supported to ensure displaced populations have access to clean water and adequate sanitation facilities. Plastic sheeting for latrines has been distributed successfully as well as water treatment plants and water and sanitation materials. New supplies have been procured. Support to the local water authorities is provided.
Education. Support is given to ensure that children have uninterrupted access to education following the start of the academic school year in late January. Tents and school kits have been distributed from the pre-positioned supplies to ensure that affected schools can start the new year.
Protection. After discussion with District Director of Social Action in Mutarara a registration campaign will start 15 January to register orphans, the ill and other very vulnerable groups in resettlement centres, for provision of family kits, shelter and other basic supplies.
Procurement of Key Emergency Supplies. Based on reports from the field and preliminary assessment results UNICEF Mozambique has moved forward in the procurement of new supplies for the flood response, to complement supplies already pre-positioned and being provided to the most affected populations. Critical items for immediate procurement include: cholera prevention and control supplies, malaria nets (for replenishment of stocks being mobilised from the regular programme), learner and teacher kits (to replenish emergency pre-positioned stocks and supplies from the regular programme), tents, water and sanitation supplies, including soap and hygiene kits and family emergency kits to urgently restore basic services in affected health centres and schools. Further assessment of the affected zone will identify additional emergency supply requirements.

Inter-Agency Collaboration and Key Partnerships

• The Humanitarian Country Team (HCT) has called for a meeting with the Development Partners Group (DPG) on 14 January 2008 to provide an overview of the situation and to discuss the collective response. The HCT will be briefing the DPG on the content and scope of the Central Emergency Response Fund proposal currently being consolidated for submission to OCHA Headquarters.

• All Clusters are conducting regular meetings to provide updates on the situation, prepare tools for rapid assessments, review results of preliminary field assessments and consolidate their inputs to the CERF proposal. Clusters are expected to submit their inputs for the CERF proposal on 11 January. On 14 January, Cluster Leads and key HCT members will meet at the Resident Coordinator Office to review the consolidated draft of the CERF Proposal, for submission to OCHA.

• The Education and Protection Clusters will finalise their field assessments by 12 January. The Food Security, Health and Nutrition assessment will start 13 January and preliminary results are expected by 18 January.

• An UNOCHA staff member has been appointed to support overall coordination of humanitarian partners. A Terms of Reference has been developed. The UNOCHA staff member will arrive Saturday in Maputo and will remain for a period of about two months.

For more information, please contact:

Lisa Doherty
Emergency Focal Point
Tel: +258 82 3179160
ldoherty@unicef.org

Annelien Groten
UNICEF Emergency Situation Centre
Tel: +258 84 2354355
agroten@unicef.org

Thierry Delvigne-Jean
Communication Specialist
Tel: +258 82 3121820
tdelvignejean@unicef.org

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