ACT Dateline
Mozambique 01/08
"There are just so, so many people displaced"
By Chris Herlinger/ACT International
NEW YORK, March 6, 2008--Calling the current humanitarian situation in Mozambique a "very serious problem" that has not yet received the international attention it deserves, an official with ACT member Christian Council of Mozambique, responding to the worst flooding in the southern African country in nearly a decade, has underlined the need for expanded international support in responding to the floods.
Continued and massive displacements of people, as well as outbreaks of cholera and other diseases are among the problems facing areas of Mozambique that are flooded, Jorge Samuel, the national program director of the Christian Council of Mozambique (CCM), said in a recent telephone interview.
"There are just so, so many people displaced," Samuel said of the situation in which the Mozambique government has estimated that 258,000 people affected by flooding and heavy rains require food aid, water and sanitation assistance.
He underlined the need for international non-governmental organizations to support efforts in Mozambique, noting that his organization, for example, "is in the field, doing work wherever we work, trying to respond to this situation." He also stressed the importance of ACT members supporting the ACT appeal for the response to the Mozambique flooding, which is supporting the CCM efforts, part of a joint response by members of the global alliance.
A report last week by the Ecumenical Committee for Social Development (CEDES), one of the other ACT members in Mozambique, also said that emergency assistance is going to be required for several months given the extent of damage to homes, other property, crops and national and regional infrastructure.
The report quoted the National Institute for Disaster Management in Mozambique as saying that as of February 14, 2008, an estimated 102,486 persons (roughly 21,555 households) have evacuated to resettlement centers as a result of the current floods.
Such high numbers of evacuees, however, tell something of a success story, Samuel noted. The evacuations mean that fewer people are in harm's way from the floods. About 60 people have died in the current flood season as opposed to the approximate 700 lives lost in floods during the 2000-2001 rainy season -- and flooding in some parts of the country is worse now than it was in the earlier emergency, he said.
Samuel, interviewed Feb. 27, said he believes the evacuations -- done as part of concerted local mitigation and preparatory efforts by CCM and other agencies -- "have helped us keep casualty numbers down." Samuel also praised improved coordination efforts among agencies for evacuation efforts and, as a result, minimizing flood casualties.
Even so, he said, response efforts have been impeded by the floods themselves, making delivery of assistance difficult in some areas.
ACT launched its appeal for flooding in central and southern Mozambique on January 31, 2008 and the response is expected to last until July 31, 2008. ACT members responding in addition to CCM and CEDES includes the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and the Presbyterian Church of Mozambique (IPM).
The joint response plans assistance for 55,460 persons, or some 10,575 families, all of whom are members of rural farming and fishing communities in river basins and islands. Efforts by CCM include a partnership with the World Food Programme in distributing food and implementing a food-for-work program.
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Chris Herlinger is the communications officer for international emergencies for ACT member, Church World Service (CWS).
Action by Churches Together (ACT) International is a global alliance of churches and related agencies working to save lives and support communities in emergencies worldwide.
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
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