S. Africa: World Vision responds to flooding as water-borne diseases spread
Pastor Dale Morgan
S. Africa: World Vision responds to flooding as water-borne diseases spread*
09 Jan 2008 10:40:00 GMT
Source: World Vision International
The number of households affected by flooding across southern Africa has
risen with widespread destruction of homes and livestock, displacement
of families and outbreaks of disease.
Flooding in Zimbabwe has continued to generate potentially fatal
illnesses in children and adults, with more cases of acute respiratory
infection, bilharzia, diarrhoea and skin conditions reported.
According to a World Vision Zimbabwe assessment team, more people are
now suffering malaria and dysentery in flood-affected areas. It is
feared that cholera could also present.
As a result of the deteriorating health situation, most clinics in the
area are now experiencing drug and pharmaceutical shortages.
World Vision Zimbabwe has provided anti-malaria drugs, anti-diarrhoea,
oral dehydration salts, painkillers and antibiotics. Drugs to treat
bilharzia, nalidixic acid, paracetamol, chloroquine, mosquito nets,
blankets, oral rehydration kits, cholera kits, aqua tablets and
intravenous fluids are needed.
In Muzarabani and Chipinge, most water points are contaminated and there
is an urgent need for borehole and well repairs.
More than 50,000 people have been affected in World Vision programmes in
Zimbabwe. The organisation last week declared the flooding a Category 1
emergency after heavy rains, which started in December, resulted in the
destruction of homes, livestock, boreholes, roads and bridges.
Assessments are continuing, and the need for food, shelter, drugs and
blankets has been cited. World Vision is also preparing to respond in
non-programme areas such as Chiredzi.
In Mozambique, up to 55 000 people have been affected by the flooding of
the main river basins in Mozambique's central region - Zambezi, Pungue,
Buzi and Save - according to the country's National Institute for
Disaster Management (INGC), signaling a Red Alert, the country's highest
level of emergency warning.
People have sought shelter in temporary accommodation camps and
resettlement areas after fleeing their submerged homes. Thousands of
acres of potentially good crop harvest have been lost. Particularly hard
hit have been the provinces of Inhambane (bordering the central region),
Sofala, Manica, Tete and Zambezia.
Alexandre Faite, the District Administrator of Mutarara, in Tete
Province, which was seriously affected by the 2007 floods that displaced
over 150 000 people, says he fears for the future. "What we are
witnessing seeing now, the amount of rainfall, the river levels and
number of people affected, is only comparable to what we saw last
February at the height of the rainy season."
World Vision relief staff indicate that shelter, water and sanitation
are the main areas of concern at this point.
Zambia and Malawi have also experienced flash flooding. In Zambia, crops
have been washed away in Southern Province and south-western (Kazungula
and Sesheke) parts of the country, while in Malawi, up to 1,400
households have lost homes and livestock. According to Malawi officials,
floods have mainly affected the southern districts of Nsanje, Chikwawa
(Ngabu and Chapananga), Phalombe, Mangochi and Machinga. Other districts
affected include Lilongwe (Chiwamba), in the centre, and Mzimba, Karonga
and Chitipa, in the north.
World Vision is continuing to assess flood affected areas across
southern Africa and leading a response to meet the needs of affected
communities.