Mozambique PM says floods may worsen but can cope
Source: Reuters
(Adds comments throughout by prime minister) By Charles Mangwiro MAPUTO, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Mozambique's prime minister said on Thursday devastating floods that have killed 29 people were likely to worsen but the country could cope with the crisis. Luisa Diogo has told the army to forcibly evacuate more than 2,500 people if necessary from high-risk areas but said she did not think there was any need for international help. "It's really dramatic and the possibility of it worsening is very likely. The possibility of an emergency is still there. But the government is prepared to face the situation," she told Reuters. Torrential rain and hurricanes have swept Mozambique in the past two weeks, straining a country that has become an African success story, helped by debt relief and inflows of foreign aid that have eased widespread poverty. The former Portuguese colony had a lengthy civil war after independence in 1975 and suffered devastating flooding in 2000 and 2001, when more than 700 people were killed and half a million displaced. "If the Zambezi river keeps on swelling up in the next 48 hours, the situation could go beyond what we saw in 2000/2001. But now we are fully prepared, the situation is manageable," she said. So far the floods have destroyed or partially damaged 4,677 houses, 111 classrooms and four health centres serving 46,500 people, in addition to the loss in lives. "In 2000 and 2001 we were caught off-guard because we did not have any preventive information. But now we have a strong data base that can allow us to intervene," said Diogo. "What we need now is to organise ourselves with the police, the armed forces and all relevant institutions." On Wednesday, Diogo had a first-hand view of the destruction when she flew over the entire stretch of the Zambezi and saw houses submerged in water and people clinging to treetops after the river burst its banks. She said they were not using emergency boats yet, so there was no need for panic and a reasonable number of trained staff were on hand for rescue operations. "The worse can happen. But let's see what will happen because so far we have predicted that over 200,000 people could be affected along the Zambezi Valley but we are better prepared than in the last seven years," said Diogo.
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