Prime Minister of Mozambique Carlos Agostinho do Rosario has urged households living in flood-prone areas to move to safer areas to avoid possible loss of life, and damage to their property.
Rosario was speaking during a visit to Guara-Guara locality, in Buzi district, in the central province of Sofala. Much of Buzi town is currently under water. The Buzi river burst its banks last week, and this initial flooding was then made much worse by Cyclone Eloise, which struck on Saturday morning.
Rosario spoke with people who had been evacuated from Buzi town to Guara-Guara, and warned “every year it will be the same thing”, with families driven from their homes because of flooding. Conditions had to be established in safer areas, he stressed, where people could farm, and could have access to all they needed to live.
The Prime Minister said he had come to assess the impact of the floods on Buzi, and announced that the government will continue to provide basic conditions so that the people of this district can undertake their activities in safe area.
“We don’t want to come back here every year, and we don’t want to lose human lives”, declared Rosario.
He urged the local authorities to demarcate plots of land so that the people who have fled from Buzi town can build new houses in Guara-Guara.
Rosario also viMozambicans urged to vacate flood-prone areassited an accommodation centre in Beira, for people who had lost their homes when the cyclone hit. They asked him for land where they could build new homes and plant crops.
The total number of people affected by Eloise is now put at 176,000 in four provinces (Sofala, Manica, Zambezia and Inhambane).