Over the past few days, tropical storm Ana has affected hundreds of thousands of people across Southern Africa. The storm caused heavy rains and flooding in Madagascar and Mozambique and left most of Zimbabwe without power over the recent days. It comes on the back of unprecedented rainfall and flooding in neighboring Zambia.
With more heavy rainfall expected over the weekend, more people could be affected and further damage and loss of life. CARE is particularly worried about the impact on women and girls in the 4 countries who are disproportionately affected during humanitarian crises such as this.
Christine Beasley, CARE Country Director in Mozambique: "The heavy rains and wind have caused quite a bit of localized destruction in central Mozambique over the past few days, and we are expecting more rain to pass through as well as watching for the possibility of rivers overflowing due to heavy rains upstream neighboring countries. In Nampula and Zambezia, there has been the destruction of some roads as well as the total destruction of houses, government buildings, classrooms, and health facilities. Some small bridges have been washed away, leaving some areas inaccessible. We are watching to see how this expected downpour will impact the region. CARE is monitoring the situation and participating in rapid needs assessments together with the UN agencies and other partners."
Monique Morazain, CARE Country Director in Madagascar said: "Luckily, the rainfall has calmed down, but the impact is high, especially for people who were already vulnerable due to ongoing weather extremes. In the Analamanga region, a river has overflown its banks, crop fields and houses are completely flooded, landslides buried homes and block main roads. CARE works closely with the local government to assess the situation and support people with what is needed."
CARE is working with other organizations and local authorities in Madagascar, Mozambique, Malawi, and Zambia to support the most vulnerable with shelter kits – including tarps, hygiene kits, family kits including basic items such as blankets and jerry can as well as seeds and tools to help replace lost agricultural stocks.
Amos Zaindi, CARE Country Director in Malawi, said, "Based on experience we expect that approximately 300,000 people in Malawi will be affected by the tropical storm. With this in mind, we are prepositioned to support the affected by offering Food, Shelter kits, Kitchen utensils, solar lights, energy-saving stoves, mosquito nets, blankets, clothes, pails. Hygiene supplies such as chlorine, water storage materials, potable water, Sanitary pads, medical supplies are part of the things to be distributed. We will also offer Gender and Protection services as well as COVID-19 protective materials."
Zambia, Malawi, and Zimbabwe all featured in CARE’s recently released Most Underreported Crises report and have suffered from a chronic lack of global attention and funding for their Humanitarian programmes.
Chikondi Chabvuta, Southern Africa Advocacy Lead with CARE International based in Malawi, said: "Cyclone Ana has been unbelievably destructive and caused untold trauma for the people who went through Cyclone Idai. This cyclone has just reminded us that everything we put into recovering from Cyclone Idai has been washed away. The women I work with planted at the end of last year and started the year hopefully, sharing seeds and fertilizing, trying to recover what they had lost during the dry spell. Now it is like reopening a wound that still had pain but was slowly healing; they are yet again waiting for the water to recede to see what they have left, if anything.
"People from many parts of Mozambique and Malawi, including from my village and members of my own family, have lost so much and are experiencing so much pain, that in this scenario it is about the losses and the damages from a crisis they played no role in creating. We have to deliver a financial mechanism that truly allows people to break free from this cycle."
For media inquiries, please contact David Mutua, CARE East, Central, and Southern Africa Regional Communications Manager, [email protected]