20000312

Aid agencies hurry as Mozambique faces more rain

MAPUTO: Relief agencies scrambled to get food and shelter material to the victims of Mozambique's floods on Saturday before the arrival of more rain.

Military helicopters from Spain, South Africa, Germany and Britain left Maputo to take advantage of a break in the bad weather which had disrupted relief missions on Friday.

"We are going to try to transport as many major relief items as possible. More rain is expected in the coming days," said Rosa Nalanga of the United Nations' Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

President Joaquim Chissano was scheduled to tour parts of the country later in the day to see the extent of the disaster.

The government estimates that close to a million people have been displaced and more than 200 killed by a month of inundation that has devastated a country which was just starting to recover from 16 years civil war.

"The aim is to move out as much plastic sheeting as possible to provide shelter at the camps for the displaced," said Ian Macleod, a spokesman for the U.N. children's fund UNICEF.

"More rain is expected in the southern parts of the Limpopo today and tomorrow but hopefully the helicopters can puncture through it."

World Food Programme spokeswoman Lindsey Davies said: "A couple of fixed-wing aircraft cannot land in certain areas because of wet conditions on the ground but the aid effort is in full swing."

Chitubo, 160 km (100 miles) north of the capital Maputo, is not only host to tens of thousands of displaced Mozambicans but has also been used a base for relief helicopters to refuel. But on Saturday poor conditions meant planes were unable to fly fuel supplies into the town.

Many who lost their homes to flooding have crowded into displacement camps where aid agencies have set up water purification facilities and food distribution points.

Aid agencies are working to fight off an outbreak of malaria and cholera caused by contaminated water. Land mines deployed in the civil war have been dislodged by flooding, creating a potentially lethal threat to people forced on the move.

Aid agencies have also swung into action off the coast of Mozambique on the island of Madagascar, which has also been hard hit by the rains. -Reuters