MOZAMBIQUE, March 16, 2007 — Central Mozambique, already suffering the effects of severe flooding in the Zambezi valley last month, now has a double calamity on its hands after the cyclone Favio hit the same region on February 22, destroying buildings, uprooting trees and cutting off communications and electricity.
Quoting official figures of the humanitarian calamity given this week (March 12), the Rev Valente Tseco, Executive Secretary of the Bible Society in Mozambique, said that 494,000 people had been affected. The Society’s involvement was “urgent and crucial,” he said. “There are no other organisations assisting the suffering people with their spiritual needs.”
Photos: Bible Society in Mozambique
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In addition to the massive displacement, Bible Society staff in Tete Province have reported the daily spread of disease arising from poor nutrition.
“People are starting to eat grass or whatever they can get,” Mr Tseco said.
The Society is working through the Christian Council of Mozambique to provide the affected people with Scriptures in indigenous languages.
The Rev Evariste Munyabarame, United Bible Societies’ Africa Area Program Coordinator, has called on the Fellowship to pray for the situation.
Prior to the cyclone, the flooding earlier last month had already caused 40 deaths and the displacement of around 170,000 people.
In a communiqué, Mr Tseco said that in spite of the need for food, clothing, medicine and fresh water, government institutions, the Red Cross and other NGOs had had difficulty in helping people in the flooded areas because most of the roads and bridges were cut off.
"The army was mobilised to assist people, using boats and helicopters," he said.
This week more than 164,000 displaced people were being assisted in accommodation centres, he added, in addition to over 70,000 people being reallocated in places safe from flooding.
"Most of the farms with crops are lost," he added. "No harvest is expected in the near future."
And while Central Mozambique was already coping with the effects of the floods, the tropical cyclone arrived.
“It achieved a speed of 200 Km/h, destroying everything in its way,” said Mr Tseco. The damage was done mainly in the three provinces of Inhambane, Manica and Sofala.
“In the tourist town of Vilanculos, the roof of the prison was taken off, the walls collapsed and all the prisoners ran away,” he said. “Even the police guards were looking for safer places [in order] to protect their own lives. An old woman died when her house collapsed and she had nobody to help her.”
In 2000, hundreds of Mozambicans lost their lives during the worst floods in the country's history (See World Report 350, World Report 351, World Report 357 and World Report 360). The government has evidently learned lessons from that experience, however, and has been praised for its response to the current crisis. Mr Tseco said that the authorities have been encouraging people to help each other, rather than wait “with outstretched hands” until help came from abroad.
“We have seen increasing support from companies, churches, municipalities and NGOs to the affected people,” he explained. “So far, no emergency appeal has been made by the government. Government institutions have shown their maturity in the way people have been saved and assisted. The previous calamities taught them how best to prevent and assist affected people.”
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