CONTINGENCY PLAN

The Mozambican government on Tuesday approved the Contingency Plan for coping with any natural disasters that may occur during the 2016-2017 rainy season.Speaking to reporters after the weekly meeting of the Council of Ministers (Cabinet), the government spokesperson, Deputy Health Minister Mouzinho Saide, said the purpose of the plan is to reduce loss of life and material damage caused by extreme weather events during this period.The plan will also ensure humanitarian assistance to those in need until normal conditions are re-established. As in previous years, the Contingency Plan envisages three scenarios. The minimum scenario envisages storms with high winds, localized flooding in towns and cities, and drought in some parts of the country. Under this scenario, about 714,000 people could be affected.The second scenario, regarded as the most probable, combines these events with flooding on river basins in the northern provinces of Nampula, Cabo Delgado and Niassa, and in Tete and Zambezia in the centre of the country.

 If this happens, about 1.35 million people would be at risk.The final, and worst scenario adds the possibility of flooding on the main rivers in Sofala and Inhambane provinces, which would push the number of people affected up to 1.37 million. If the widespread flooding envisaged in the second and third scenarios occurs, it will probably be in the first quarter of 2017, said Saide (January and February are usually the wettest months in Mozambique). The problem facing the government is that it does not yet have the money required to deal with even the least severe of the scenarios. Scenario one would cost 597 million meticais (7.75 million US dollars, at current exchange rates). Scenario two would cost 810 million meticais, and scenario three 930 million.“The government has already mobilized some of the money needed to cover this Contingency Plan”, said Saide, “but it will certainly need to mobilize more resources through the participation of its partners”.So far, the money available from the State Budget for the Contingency plan is just 160 million meticais.