Mozambique, Devastated by floods
The worst floods in living memory have left hundreds dead in Southern Africa, and destroyed over half a million homes. South Africa, Zimbabwe and Botswana have all been affected, but the worst of the damage has occurred in Mozambique. Over the weekend the Limpopo and Save rivers burst their banks leaving thousands stranded on high ground.
The government has said that it is increasing emergency funding for Mozambique to £400,000. The Junior Minister, Liz O'Donnell, said that it was important to provide additional funding, which will go to the World Food Programme, because of the scale of the disaster in Mozambique. At least 350 people have died and more than 650,000 have been made homeless in three weeks of flooding. Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, has called on the EU to write off bilateral debts with Mozambique to help it rebuild its economy.
Thousands of people in Mozambique remain trapped by the floods. UN aid agencies have warned that the death rate will increase if more aid is not sent to the region. They are appealing for more money and aircraft to be sent urgently as rising floodwaters hamper efforts to rescue hundreds of thousands of people.
Helicopters that were delivering relief supplies have almost entirely been diverted to rescuing people who are clinging to higher ground as the floodwaters rise still further. They are now rescuing people from rooftops, trees and pockets of high ground rather than delivering food. Aid workers in Mozambique have described the situation as catastrophic.
