“It was one of the worst moments for the municipalities, some of which suffered a lot of damage, and if we are already poor municipalities, I can only imagine how these municipalities will be now,” said João Ferreira, president of the National Association of Municipalities of Mozambique (ANAM), at a press conference in Maputo.
The representative of the Mozambican municipalities considered it “premature” to provide data on the value of the damage caused, not least because “it is still happening”, stressing that it is “very difficult” to have a real figure at the moment. He also warned that it is time for local authorities to start encouraging construction in high places to avoid the same problems in the future.
“I think the time has come for us all to build something, not only for ourselves, but for our children, for our grandchildren, and when we are building, let’s do it in good locations. There will always be a problem with flooding in one place or another, but it will not be systematic,” appealed the leader, who is campaigning through the “SOS” platform to raise funds to support the affected municipalities.
ANAM, an organisation comprising all 65 municipalities in the country, also expressed its solidarity with those affected, adding that the platform contains information on all affected municipalities and the relevant reception centres, including the names of residents being sheltered, to facilitate their location by family members.
The latest report from the National Institute for Disaster Management and Risk Reduction (INGD) points to 165,841 hectares of agricultural area affected, of which 73,695 hectares are considered lost, affecting 111,535 farmers, in addition to the death of 38,770 head of cattle, goats and poultry.
According to the INGD, the total number of deaths during the rainy season in Mozambique has risen to 112, with three people still missing and 99 people injured. It added that, since October, 645,781 people have been affected, equivalent to 122,863 families, with 11,233 houses partially destroyed and 4,883 totally destroyed, worsening the previous balance.
Mozambique’s government estimates that 40% of Gaza province is submerged due to the heavy flooding of recent days, and that several districts of Maputo are flooded, with National Road 1 to the north and National Road 2 to the south impassable due to rising waters, in addition to the total destruction of at least 152 kilometres of national roads.
Rescue operations and attempts to rescue hundreds of families besieged by the floods continue, especially in Maputo and Gaza, southern Mozambique, as a result of the rains, which have been almost uninterrupted for several days and are forcing dams, including those in neighbouring countries, to increase their discharge significantly due to a lack of capacity. Six helicopters and four aircraft are involved in these operations, which are dependent on weather conditions.
