The National Institute for Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (INGD) revealed on Wednesday 10 January that it has only 4.1 billion meticals of the 14.3 billion needed to respond to the 2023-24 rainy season.
“So far, of what has been made available by the government and partners, 4.1 billion meticais is available, and there is a need to look for more resources,” said the institution’s spokesman, Paulo Tomás, according to whom the money should be used for monitoring, handling and transporting goods to critical areas, as part of the coordination of disaster risk management and reduction.
“The plan includes the acquisition of search and rescue equipment and means, among other actions, to guarantee the pre-positioning and placement of food and non-food goods to assist the population in case of need in all regions of the country,” added Paulo Tomás.
For the current season, it is estimated that more than 2.2 million people are at risk of being affected by climatic events across the country.
Mozambique is considered one of the countries most severely affected by climate change in the world, facing cyclical floods and tropical cyclones during the rainy season, which runs from October to April.
The 2018-19 rainy season was one of the most severe on record in the country: 714 people died, including 648 victims of cyclones Idai and Kenneth, two of the biggest ever to hit the country.
In the first quarter of last year, heavy rains and Cyclone Freddy caused 306 deaths, affected more than 1.3 million people in the country, destroyed 236,000 homes and 3,200 classrooms.
