Poor warning systems 'hit Africa'

2008-01-24 12:57

Maputo - Southern Africa must improve its warning systems in order to minimise the impact of disasters like the flooding that has displaced tens of thousands of people in the region since December, a senior regional official has warned.

Tomaz Salomao, executive secretary of the 14-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC), was speaking after a helicopter tour of flood-hit districts in central Mozambique on Wednesday.

Flooding along several rivers, including the Zambezi, Africa's fourth-largest, caused mainly by heavy rains in neighbouring Zimbabwe, Malawi and Zambia, had killed at least 12 people and displaced about 76 000 in Mozambique.

In Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi dozens of people had also been swept away by floodwaters that had submerged vast areas of farmland raising concerns for food security in a region gripped by poverty.

Salomao heading SADC mission

Salamao said: "The only way to reduce the impact of the floods ... is through improving communication and warning systems between the governments of countries that share hydrographic basins."

Salomao was heading an SADC mission to assess the impact of the floods in south-east Africa. The Mozambican national praised his country for its timely response to the floods.

The national disaster management institute (INGC), drawing on the lessons of devastating floods in 2000/2001 that killed 700 people and displaced half a million, moved quickly to evacuate more than 50 000 people in flood-prone areas to higher ground.

With the heavy rains coming a good month ahead of the peak of the rainy season this year aid agencies and the INGC were bracing for the worst flooding in years.

The United Nations World Food Programme earlier this week began airlifting tons of food and supplies, including mosquito nets, to about 13 000 flood victims in inaccessible resettlement areas.

Sapa-dpa

- SAPA