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DAM-L BBC on Moz. flood disaster/LS (fwd)
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Date: Fri, 9 Mar 2001 11:51:51 -0800
To: irn-safrica@netvista.net
From: Lori Pottinger <lori@irn.org>
Subject: BBC on Moz. flood disaster/LS
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Mozambique 'inches from disaster'
South Africa has sent food and medicines
Torrential rains and strong winds have claimed two lives in northern
Mozambique and are heading towards the already flooded central region.
Mozambique is inches away from a humanitarian disaster
The UN is warning of a looming humanitarian catastrophe from rising
water levels in the Zambezi river basin.
"With a tropical storm predicted to strike the country this weekend,
Mozambique is inches away from a humanitarian disaster," UN
Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in a statement on Thursday.
Mozambique's national weather institute says it is monitoring the
progress of the storm and warns people in areas potentially at risk
to move themselves and their belongings to higher and safer ground.
A cyclone across the Mozambique channel near Madagascar, could also
threaten further misery.
Catastrophic
The floods have already left 75 people dead and rescue operations are
continuing in the Zambezi valley, despite resistance from local
residents unwilling to leave homes.
The main dams feeding the Zambezi river are full
The UN estimate that 80,000 people have been displaced by the floods
and at least 50,000 more are at immediate risk
Ross Mountain, Geneva director of the UN Office for the Coordination
of Humanitarian Affairs said UN relief officials were "watching the
weather with great concern".
"Water levels are already very high and rising, and with the extra
water that is expected... this could be catastrophic," he said.
Region Mozambican Prime Minister Pascoal Mocumbi, who has been flying
over the flood waters, says that a meeting of countries who have
rivers feeding the Zambezi is to be held in the Zimbabwean capital,
Harare, next week to discuss the management of water flow from dams.
Mozambique radio said on Friday that the Cahora Bassa dam is full and
a fifth sluice gate had been opened. Authorities are considering
opening a sixth.
Thousands have been displaced in Malawi
The UN say the floods on the Zambezi river are the worst for more
than 20 years and cover an estimate area of 1 million hectares (2.47
million acres) of land - between three or four times the size of the
Netherlands.
Preperations for floods in Mozambique this year are better than
during the rainy season last year, when more than 700 people died.
The heavy rains and floods have also affected tens of thousands in
Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
--
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Lori Pottinger, Director, Southern Africa Program,
and Editor, World Rivers Review
International Rivers Network <'})))>><
1847 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, California 94703, USA
Tel. (510) 848 1155 Fax (510) 848 1008
http://www.irn.org
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