Mozambique considers aid appeal
2007-02-09 13:08
Maputo - Floods that have killed 29 people in Mozambique have worsened and the government may call for international help to rescue more than 500 000 people threatened by the rising water, Prime Minister Luisa Diogo said.
She said there was a need to intensify rescue operations, mainly in the provinces of Zambezia and Sofala, where she described the situation as "getting out of hand".
"People have to be moved?the number (of the affected) have to be re-evaluated, and the capacity to rescue the people has to be re-evaluated to see if the government can continue handling the situation on its own contingency plan or we need additional support and appeal for international emergency aid,"
Diogo told Reuters on Friday.
This year's floods 'could be worse than 2001'
Diogo said this year's floods could be worse than those of
2000 and 2001 which killed more than 700 people, displaced
500 000, damaged key economic infrastructure and forced the
former Portuguese colony to solicit $500m in foreign aid.
This time around the floods had so far crushed or partially
destroyed 4 677 houses, 111 classrooms and four health centres
serving 46 500 people, in addition to the 29 dead.
The country's water authority said it had opened a third
floodgate at the huge Cahora Bassa Dam in northern Mozambique to
secure it, but doubling the water discharges to 8 400 cubic
metres per second could endanger people on the ground.