CORRECTED | Mozambique: €500 thousand to map Búzi river basin, prepare for natural disasters

Login

Register

http://www.clubofmozambique.com/

CORRECTED | Mozambique: €500 thousand to map Búzi river basin, prepare for natural disasters

7:28 CAT | 25 Aug 2021

Photo: Twitter / @wfp_mozambique

Correction changes the previous amount reported by Lusa. The EU support is 500 thousand euros, not 32,8 million euros as originally reported by the same source.

An operation to map the Buzi river basin by drone will allow accurate identification of areas prone to natural disasters and the consequent preparation of climate event response. The project will benefit 342 villages.

The European Union (EU) will disburse €500 thousand for the mapping of zones at risk of natural disasters on the Buzi river in central Mozambique, says the World Food Program (WFP), the project’s managing entity.

“This is very important funding for Mozambique, for the implementation of this project to map risk areas along the Búzi River,” WFP representative Pierre Lucas told reporters during a demonstration of the use of drones in the Guaraguara area.

Lucas said that the operation would allow the precise identification of areas prone to natural disasters and the elaboration of plans to respond to climatic events. “The result will contribute, in the long term, to the mitigation of the adverse effects of extreme climatic events, such as cyclones and floods, in the Búzi hydrographic basin,” Lucas explained.

Benefiting villages

The entire Búzi river basin, which covers nine districts in the provinces of Sofala and Manica, is being mapped, and the results of the exercise will benefit more than 1.1 million inhabitants of the 342 villages located throughout the basin.

🗺️WFP and INGD are mapping the Buzi river basin with drones to help preparing for natural disasters⛈️

It will benefit 2 provinces, 9 districts, 342 villages, and 1.1 million people in central Mozambique! 📍🌍

Thanks to the support of @eu_echo @ECHO_CESAfrica 🇲🇿🤝🇪🇺 pic.twitter.com/tl46t3MnRn

— WFP Mozambique (@wfp_mozambique) August 23, 2021

“The drones are a technological tool which allows technicians more agility and greater precision in generating information,” António Beleza, deputy director of the National Emergency Operational Centre (CENOE), said.

Beleza said the mapping would allow local authorities to better prepare for the floods, and for local communities to become more resilient.

Mozambique is among the countries most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.

Over the past three years, five tropical cyclones (Desmond, Idai, Kenneth, Chalane, Eloise and Guambe) have caused hundreds of deaths and extensive material damage, mainly in the country’s central provinces.

Source: Lusa / Deutsche Welle