Mozambique humanitarian situation update, 11 February 2008
Major Developments Flood response As of 10 February, the water levels along the Zambeze, Buzi, Limpopo, Save and Chire are decreasing, while levels for the Pungoe river have increased slightly. The total number of people relocated to resettlement centres across the five provinces affected by flooding now stands at 102,019. Of these, a total of 87,637 are in the Zambeze valley area. Discharges from the Cahora Bassa Dam are maintained at 4,000 cubic meters per second. It is expected that as a result of the opening of one of the spill gates of Lake Kariba Dam, the Cahorra Bassa Dam will have to increase its discharge later in the week. UNICEF Response to the Zambeze Floods Management and coordination Coordination in Caia and Mutarara continues through daily briefings at the Emergency Operations Centre, as well as through the working groups that have been established by the INGC and which are attended by the Cluster partners in the field. INGC has requested UNICEF support for distribution planning of INGC supplies for all UNICEF-led sectors. Health and nutrition A refreshment training course on cholera case management was completed on 9 February in Mutarara, with the participation of 25 hospital and district health staff led by the Medico Chefe in coordination with provincial and district health authorities, UNICEF and MSF. The protocol from the training is being consolidated and will be shared with all 25 participants. In Mopeia, UNICEF and partners continue to support district health authorities to visit all hard-to-reach flood affected areas, ensuring that nutritional screening is conducted and integrated health interventions (distribution of Vitamin A, immunisation and deworming) are delivered where and when necessary. In Kalangana resettlement centre, out of 133 children (6-59 months old) screened, 10 were found to be moderately malnourished. An additional 1,600 mosquito nets are currently being distributed by SCUK, MSF and UNICEF in Nhacatundo, Noere and Kalangana resettlement centres. MSF is going to distribute a second mosquito net to each family in Zona Verde in order to reach two mosquito nets per family. Water and sanitation With the rapidly increasing numbers of acute watery diarrhoea in Mutarara, the focus in WASH has been to further scale up work in hygiene, sanitation and awareness. Many of the cases are coming from the Bawe resettlement centres. As such, it was agreed in a meeting with Cluster partner OXFAM that safe drinking water will be brought closer to Bawe 2 resettlement centre by installing a 10 M3 bladder in the centre, with water trucked from the nearby treatment plant. Soap will be provided by UNICEF, as well as buckets, certeza and other WASH supplies as necessary. Social mobilisation activities related to the promotion of use of latrines and personal hygiene are being scaled up by all WASH partners. OXFAM will also work with the health authorities to establish oral rehydration salt (ORS) corners, post treatment counselling and provision of hygiene kits in priority centres. Caia town continues to receive water from the water treatment plants installed with the support of UNICEF, in coordination with the provincial and district water authorities. Education An additional three UNICEF tents have been distributed and set up in two schools (Gaute and Pharie Primary Schools) in Morrumbala, followed by distribution of school materials (286 learners’ kits, 3 teachers’ kits, 1 school kit) in Gaute. Cluster partner Save the Children Alliance will continue erecting tents in Pharie and Pinda Primary Schools, and distribute school materials simultaneously. All 58 school tents are now on site and nearly all of them have been erected. In Mutarara district, UNICEF assisted in securing a local carpenter who will build blackboards by using the school tent boxes and blackboard paint from the school kits. A site for a school tent in the Quartel transit centre was identified for learners who were evacuated from Cachaço area in Inhangoma. The district authorities are proposing to move the centre to another location outside of the town therefore plans to install the tent have been put on hold until a final location has been identified. An assessment mission is being carried out in Inhangoma, where the education needs previously assessed in coordination with the SDEJT Mutarara are being reviewed in light of the evacuation of many families in the area. Simultaneously, UNICEF and partners are visiting schools in Mopeia and Morrumbala districts to collect more detailed information on the education situation of children, as well as on the infrastructure needs required by the schools. Protection Cluster partner, World Vision is strengthening their capacity and expanding its field team in Mutarara. A joint Protection-Education Cluster meeting is planned with the participation of UNICEF, World Vision, Action Aid and Help Age. Action Aid has indicated that they are interested in working with World Vision on the establishment of child friendly spaces in resettlement and transit centres. Cluster partner Save the Children Alliance has completed the training in Quelimane on child protection for activistas in resettlement centres. So far, two child friendly spaces have been set up in Zone Verde and in 24 de Julho, with a view of expanding this initiative to 25 resettlement centres. UNICEF will provide recreational kits to all established child-friendly spaces. A coordination meeting with cluster partners was held to establish mechanisms for the distribution of OVC kits at field level. Subsequently, UNICEF provided 300 OVC kits to Cluster partner Concern for further distribution in Chinde district, Zambezia province. Logistics and telecommunications support WASH, education and protection supplies are all being dispatched on a regular basis using air, truck and boat transport. Currently one helicopter and two boats, one 10Mt and one 8Mt boat, are being used. In addition UNICEF is using contracted trucks to ensure that all supplies reach the flood-affected areas and the resettlement centres as quickly as possible. Currently, five warehouses are available in Caia (two for non-food items and three for food supplies). One wijkhal has also been set up in Mutarara to be used as a non-food item storage facility. Telecommunications support is ongoing and a telephone/fax line has been set up in Caia. In addition, an ICT Help Desk has been established. TSF is donating telecommunication equipment as a contribution in kind to the Emergency Telecommunication Cluster. Following customs clearance, the telecommunication equipment will be dispatched to Caia. Inter-agency collaboration and key partnerships UNOCHA has deployed an information management specialist to Maputo to set up information sharing mechanisms which will facilitate information dissemination amongst all clusters and the wider Humanitarian Country Team. All clusters continue to meet on a regular basis to share information on the situation and to coordinate the emergency response in the flood-affected areas. Tools have been developed to monitor implementation, geographical coverage and distribution of supplies for each Cluster. For more information, please contact: Thierry Delvigne-Jean Lynda DeGuire Lisa Doherty Annelien Groten
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