Mozambique humanitarian situation update, 15 February 2008
Major Developments Flood response As of 15 February, the water levels along the Zambeze, Buzi, Limpopo, Save, Pungoe and Chire have stabilized or are decreasing. Low to moderate rainfall is forecasted for 15-18 February over the central and northern provinces, except for north of Cabo Delgado where heavy rainfall is forecasted on 17 February. The total number of people relocated to resettlement centres across the five provinces affected by flooding now stands at 102,213. Of these, a total of 87,696 are in the Zambeze valley area. Discharges from the Cahora Bassa Dam have decreased to 3,700 cubic metres per second. UNICEF Response to the Zambeze Floods Management and coordination Fourteen staff members from INGC and CENOE were trained on 12 February on how to conduct the registration of displaced people in the flood affected areas. The trainees will be deployed to Caia this week-end and registration will begin on 18 February in resettlement centres in Caia. The Advisor to the Director from INGC and two Monitoring and Evaluation staff from UNICEF will travel to Caia to support the first stages of the registration process. Health and nutrition Four cholera treatment centres (CTC) are now operational in Mutarara district. The cumulative cases of acute watery diarrhoea (clinically diagnosed as cholera) stands at 529. While the outbreak is said to be under control in Charre and Vila Nova da Fronteira CTCs, new cases continue to be recorded in Mutarara central hospital and Bawe CTC. Approximately 50 per cent of the new cases are reported to be children from 0-15 years old. UNICEF and other partners continue to support the district authorities to monitor and scale up the response as needed. The construction of latrines and social mobilisation activities to promote improved hygiene and sanitation are being accelerated. There have been no additional fatalities in the last week, with the total number of deaths remaining at 8. To further support social mobilisation activities related to cholera prevention in resettlement/transition centres, UNICEF and the Grupo de Teatro do Oprimido (GTO) have developed a training plan for two additional theatre groups in Doa and Charre. In addition, refreshment training will be conducted for the existing five groups currently working in Doa, Nhamayabue and Inhangoma areas. Out of 63,800 LLINS distributed at district level, UNICEF and partners have confirmed delivery of 26,700 nets directly to families resettled in the affected areas. In Caia, DDS with support from UNICEF and partners have carried out nutritional screening activities in all resettlement centres. Out of more than 1,000 under-five children screened, approximately 10 per cent were found to be moderately malnourished and one per cent of children were diagnosed as severely malnourished. All malnourished children were enrolled in supplementary feeding programmes as required. Water and sanitation In addition to the three water treatment plants already providing water in Mutarara town, a fourth treatment plant is being installed in Mutarara Sede by the provincial and district water authorities, with support from UNICEF and partners. The system will increase water production in Mutarara town, where increasing cases of acute diarrhoea have been reported. UNICEF is also supporting Cluster partner Oxfam to install a 70,000 litre tank in Bawe, which will provide safe drinking water to two resettlement centres and the Cholera Treatment Centre. A ‘behaviour change communication’ guide for activistas is currently being finalised and will be distributed to partners in all flood-affected areas shortly. The guide will be used by activistas to promote behaviour change activities at the same time as WASH, education and protection supplies are delivered, providing another opportunity to disseminate key information on cholera and malaria prevention, promotion of education and prevention of violence against children. Education Distribution of UNICEF educational supplies is ongoing. A total of 78,349 learners’ kits, 810 teachers’ kits, 195 school kits and 66 tents have reached the flood-affected areas. All cluster partners including UNICEF and district authorities are completing the distribution of all education materials. Schools are being used as an additional platform to disseminate health information. To complement scale-up efforts in preventing further acute watery diarrheoa outbreaks, cholera pamphlets have been incorporated into school kits to enhance hygiene promotion lessons taught in classes. Protection UNICEF and partners are consolidating data received from Help Age and ActionAid on numbers of vulnerable groups in resettlement centres. The consolidated data will be shared at the Cluster meeting in Maputo and will serve as a basis for the finalisation of geographical coverage as well as to adjust distribution plans. In coordination with INGC, leaflets and other IEC materials on UXOs are being distributed in the Quartel transit centre in Mutarara Sede. An assessment of the area has been carried out and the Mutarara police have removed a total of 21 AK-47 bullets from the area. Child Friendly Spaces (CFS) have been established by Cluster partner Save the Children Alliance with support from UNICEF in Zona Verde and 24 de Julho resettlement centres in Mopeia district. Another 25 CFS are planned to be established in the near future. UNICEF is contributing to the CFS by providing recreational kits to each location. Logistics and telecommunications support A third helicopter arrived in Caia on 12 February to provide additional capacity for air operations. Currently, all three helicopters are operating full-time. The Logistics Cluster is managing a total of three helicopters, nine trucks and eight boats. A barge of 30 mt capacity will arrive in the flood-affected areas shortly. All transport means, with support from the Logistics Cluster, are used to ensure that UNICEF can continue distributing supplies to the resettlement centres in the flood-affected areas in a timely manner. Storage capacity has expanded in Caia and Mutarara. To date seven temporary warehouses have been set up: four in Caia, two in Mutarara and one on stand-by in Caia. The Emergency Telecommunications Cluster continues to install telecommunications equipment and provide support to the INGC and humanitarian partners. Telecoms Sans Frontieres (TSF) will install a VSAT in Mopeia over the weekend of 16-17 February. Inter-agency collaboration and key partnerships 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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