Mozambique: Cabinet ministers hand over a day’s pay for disaster victims

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Mozambique: Cabinet ministers hand over a day’s pay for disaster victims

5:21 CAT | 18 Feb 2016

In file Club of Mozambique / Carlos Agostinho do Rosario, Mozambique's Prime Minister.

Members of the Mozambique government will contribute a day’s pay to help people affected by natural disasters in the country, Prime Minister Carlos Agostinho do Rosario announced yesterday.

“The members of the Council of Ministers and its permanent guests have decided unanimously to contribute a day’s pay to support those affected by flooding and drought in the country,” do Rosario’s Facebook page declares.

The prime minister announcement comes just days after his visit to Gaza province, the most affected by drought, where over 77,000 people are experiencing food insecurity, especially in Chigubo, Chicualacuala Guijá, Massangena, Massingir and Chibuto.

During his visit to Gaza, Carlos Agostinho do Rosário was briefed on the situation of families in northern districts of the province and called on provincial authorities to draw up a document outlining the real needs of the population.

On his Facebook page, the prime minister also launched a solidarity appeal coordinated by the INGC, inviting all interested parties to support those affected by the disasters in Mozambique.

According to the Minister of State Administration, Carmelita Namashalua, the drought is affecting 530,000 people in Maputo, Gaza, Inhambane provinces in the south of the country, and Tete and Sofala in the centre.

At a meeting this week at the National Institute of Disaster Management (INGC), the minister said that Mozambique needs an additional 63 million meticais (1.2 million euros) to respond to the natural disasters in the country.

In addition to the drought, which mainly affects southern Mozambique, the country’s central and northern regions have been hit by floods that have killed at least 33 people and destroyed the property of more than 1,500.

Mozambique is hit by floods between October and April every year as a result of being location on the banks of many of the largest rivers in southern Africa, while the south of the country is susceptible to prolonged, recurrent droughts.

Source: Lusa