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DAM-L Flood Contingency Plans Not Yet Finalized/LS (fwd)
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Date: Thu, 8 Nov 2001 09:24:08 -0800
To: irn-safrica@netvista.net
From: Lori Pottinger <lori@irn.org>
Subject: Flood Contingency Plans Not Yet Finalized/LS
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Disaster Contingency Plans Not Yet Finalised
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks
November 6, 2001
Johannesburg
As the rainy season begins in Mozambique, aid organisations and the
government are still to complete contingency plans to help cope with
the possible repeat of the flood disasters that have hit the country
for two-years running.
Johannes Giorgis, a United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
advisor to the government's disaster management authority - the INGC
- told IRIN that the government was in the process of finalising its
national contingency plan and that it was expected to be ready by
mid-December.
But some humanitarian and diplomatic sources in Mozambique told IRIN
that although it was "commendable" that the government was drawing up
a contingency plan, they felt mid-December was too late.
"This plan should have been finalised by now and made public.
Government at all levels should have known by now what it is they
need to do and how it needs to be done in case of any kind of extreme
weather," one diplomatic source said. "By now when people ask the
government what is the contingency plan, they should be able to say
'Okay this is what we have planned'. A good contingency plan is a
vital part of early warning but it needs to be ready at least by now."
According to Giorgis: "The plan will be based on information gathered
both on a district and provincial level. It will have input from a
wide variety of organisations including the United Nations and other
non-governmental agencies. But it will be the official government
plan." He added that, "this does not mean that agencies and
organisations have themselves not started planning and
pre-positioning items that they anticipate might be needed".
In its final report on flooding earlier this year, the Office of the
Resident Coordinator for the United Nations in Mozambique said that
over 200,000 people had been displaced, with over 500,000 affected.
Giorgis said that climatologists had predicted "normal" rainfall for
much of Mozambique. "But normal does not rule out the possibility of
problems," he said. "In some areas the ground is still quite
saturated and so any additional rainfall could result in inundation
and not necessarily flooding. Secondly the thing is normal could also
mean slightly less rain."
In its latest ministerial brief, the Southern African Development
Community (SADC) Food Security Network said that according to climate
experts the SADC region was likely to experience normal to above
normal rainfall in the 2001/2002 season. "The possibility of above
normal rains forecast for the first half of the season in the entire
Limpopo River Basin could result in above normal river levels," the
brief said. "However, normal rainfall is forecast in these same areas
during the second part of the season, when flooding typically occurs."
It warned that there was a "possibility" of above normal rains in the
lower Zambezi River Basin, including Kariba and Cabora Bassa dam
areas, with the "enhanced possibility" of above normal rainfall in
the upper Zambezi River Basin. The brief noted that the situation
should be "monitored closely".
Jonathan Cauldwell, from the UN's children's fund in Maputo told IRIN
that UNICEF had already made some preparations. "UNICEF has ordered
US $1.4 million of contingency health, education and water and
sanitation for pre-positioning in 2001," Cauldwell said. He explained
that "preparedness actions" for the floods earlier this year, by
UNICEF and its partner agency the UN's World Food Programme allowed
for a "rapid response".
Cauldwell said that UNICEF had started incorporating emergency
programmes into its national programming. "Staff have been trained in
preparedness and response to issues to ensure an integrated response
to emergencies," Cauldwell noted. "The important lesson learned is
that response to emergencies should not be short term. This would
mean disaster prone areas would be targeted within our overall
response strategies - HIV/AIDS, girls education, early childhood
development and care."
"The ultimate aim is that the situation of for example children and
women in high risk areas has been sufficiently strengthened so that
coping mechanisms are stronger, allowing them to respond better to
extreme disaster situations rather than a fly in response and leave,"
he said.
Joao Manja from WFP in Maputo told IRIN that the agency would start
pre-positioning food at the end of November. "By the end of this
month we would have started placing food in key areas to deal with
the probability of any flooding," Manja said.
Ryan Hoover
Africa Campaigns
International Rivers Network
1847 Berkeley Way
Berkeley, CA 94703
USA
Phone: (510) 848-1155 Fax: (510) 848-1008
www.irn.org
--
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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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