NAMIBIA: Rescue workers start evacuation in Caprivi

Photo: Reliefweb

The Zambezi has flooded Katima rural, Kabbe, Linyandi and Kongola

JOHANNESBURG, 1 April 2004 (IRIN) - Namibian rescue workers began moving villagers to higher ground this week as the Zambezi burst its banks along the eastern border of the Caprivi strip. "We have started evacuating people to drier areas," Timothy Shixungileni, acting director of the Emergency Management Unit told IRIN. Twenty households have been evacuated so far as the Zambezi rose past the seven-metre mark on Thursday. The flooding, which began last month, has affected some 40,000 people, according to the Namibia Red Cross Society. It claimed the lives of a mother and child in the village of Nakabolelwa in eastern Caprivi on Wednesday. "The mother and child, along with the father and another child, were on a canoe when it capsized," Razia Essack-Kauaria, secretary-general of the Namibia Red Cross said. Bernard Sibalatani, the Caprivi governor, said the need for more boats, "particularly 20-seater airboats [swamp boats], is quite urgent now, because we are unable to access the swampy areas and the dugout canoes are not very stable for evacuating people". He told IRIN there was an 80-km stretch of flooded land in eastern Caprivi that the rescue teams had not been able to access. "We have sent a helicopter out there today to assess the situation," Sibalatani added. The authorities in Caprivi only have five speedboats at their disposal. Shixungileni said the rescue teams were out in the field with 65 tents on Thursday as part of their efforts to evacuate more people. Besides the districts of Katima rural and Kabbe, the Zambezi has now flooded neighbouring Linyandi and Kongola. "The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) have put out an appeal for [assistance to] 50,000 people because we fear the situation is going to worsen," Essack-Kauria said. The IFRC has said it needs 12,000 blankets for at least 10,000 families, 1,500 tents, 5,000 tarpaulins, 8,000 jerry cans, 12,000 mosquito tents, three new emergency health kits, 80,000 bars of soap and 3,000 packets of chemical pesticide for spraying. The Zimbabwean government has provided two helicopters to the relief efforts.