Covid-19: Majority of post-cyclone resettlement centres in Mozambique without protective equipment – IOM

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Covid-19: Majority of post-cyclone resettlement centres in Mozambique without protective equipment – IOM

4:31 CAT | 15 May 2020

FILE - For illustration purposes only. Shelter distribution for displaced families in Cabo Delgado, Mozambique incorporates social distancing, hand washing and other COVID-19 precautions. [Photo: IOM/ Magnus Wolfe Murray]

Most resettlement centres for families affected by the 2019 cyclones in Mozambique do not have Covid-19 protection equipment or strategies, a survey by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) has found.

The study covers 76 resettlement centres housing a total of 101,000 people.

Most of these relatively recent resettlement centres (71) were set up in the central provinces of Sofala, Manica, Zambézia and Tete, in response to the displacement of families by Cyclone Idai.

Another five resettlement centres are located in the provinces of Cabo Delgado and Nampula, in the north, in response to cyclone Kenneth and the high number of people displaced by armed violence there.

According to the survey, there are no masks, gloves, thermometers, or isolation spaces to respond to any case of infection with the new coronavirus.

The main improvement recorded concerns the dissemination of information and the installation of hand washing stations with soap.

The collection of information was carried out by IOM in collaboration with the National Institute for Disaster Management (INGC) between the 5th and 8th of this month, “with the objective of informing the government and humanitarian partners”.

“The information collected will help decision-makers plan interventions and restrictions, as well as to define health and preparedness measures to prevent and contain outbreaks in resettlement sites,” the IOM says.

At four resettlement centres, (Bandua 2019 and Maximedje in Buzi district, Sofala province, and Chibue and Muawa in Sussudenga, Manica) the communities reported “having received, in April, 21 migrant workers from South Africa, who installed themselves there”.

“Of these four centres, two (Bandua 2019 and Maximedje) reported having clinically examined the health status of migrants before entry,” the report details, without however providing information about the other two.

The IOM notes that a permanent management presence is essential in order to coordinate activities and effectively support these resettlement centres.

In the case of the central regions affected by Cyclone Idai, 20% of the sites said they do not currently have any such presence, which does not exist either in any of the five resettlement sites in the north of the country.

Mozambique has an accumulated total of 119 cases of infection with the new coronavirus, with no deaths and 42 accounted fully recovered.

ALSO READ: Mozambique: Almost 90% of families hit by Idai still in temporary shelters – OIM

Cyclone Idai hit the centre of Mozambique in March last year, caused 603 deaths and severely affecting Beira, one of the county’s main cities. Cyclone Kenneth caused destruction in Cabo Delgado and Nampula in April 2019 and killed 45 people.

Source: Lusa