Maputo, 1 Nov (AIM) – At least nine people have died since Monday as a result of damage caused by torrential rain hitting Gúrue district, in the central Mozambican province of Zambézia.
According to the Gúrue district administrator, Elsa da Barca, as a result of these storms, four other people were injured and 350 people were displaced from their homes.
From Monday to Tuesday, the rainfall reached 156 millimetres in Gúrue.
“Among the nine deaths, there are five children”, said the administrator. “The injured people were taken to Gúrue District Hospital and now they are out of danger”.
She added that 81 houses, in eight neighbourhoods, were destroyed. Most of the deaths occurred when the storm blew flimsy houses down on top of the people inside them.
Rebuilding will be difficult. Elsa da Barca said “the district is facing a shortage of essential material for construction of provisional houses for the victims.”
According to the administrator, a team, composed of representatives of Mozambique’s relief agency, the National Disaster Management Institute (INGD), and the Ministries of Health and of Education, is in the field to monitor the damage.
According to the Zambezia provincial INGD delegate, Nelson Ludovico, the data collection will help ascertain more details about the damage, in order to help the most vulnerable families.
(AIM)
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