House of Commons - International Development

Select Committee on International Development Fifth Report

FIFTH REPORT

The International Development Committee has agreed to the following Report:—

MOZAMBIQUE

1. Flooding was first reported in Mozambique as far back as the middle of January this year. The Committee, which had been in Mozambique from 20-24 February as part of a visit to southern Africa, was able to witness at first hand the devastation caused by this initial flooding and the response of the international community — including the Department for International Development (DFID) — to the disaster. On the night of 25 February river levels rose rapidly and caused widespread further flooding, affecting hundreds of thousands of people. The purpose of this report is to examine the response of the international community to the emergency in Mozambique and to examine the mechanisms currently in place at national, regional and international levels to respond to similar future crises. Both complex emergencies, arising from conflict, and natural disasters are making increasingly frequent demands on the international community. As frequent are the complaints that the response is inadequate or uncoordinated in some way.

2. We are most grateful to all those we met during our visit to Mozambique in February, and to those who gave formal oral evidence to the Committee in the course of this inquiry: the Rt Hon Clare Short MP, Secretary of State for International Development; the Rt Hon Geoffrey Hoon MP, Secretary of State for Defence; Barrie Ireton and Rob Holden from DFID; Air Commodore Paul Luker and Roger Paxton from the Ministry of Defence (MoD); and Ross Mountain, Katarina Toll Velasquez and Gilbert Greenall from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). We would also like to thank all those who supplied the Committee with written evidence.

Introduction

3. Mozambique is one of the world's poorest countries with over 70 per cent of its population of 16 million people living on less than a dollar a day. Mozambique's 10 year civil war, which ended in 1992, left much of the country's social and economic infrastructure destroyed[1]. It is estimated that only 40 per cent of the population have access to basic health services, and only 28 per cent access to safe water. Chronic malnutrition affects 30 to 40 per cent of the population and some 60 per cent of the population (77 per cent of women) are illiterate.[2]

4. Flooding is not uncommon in Mozambique. But though heavy rains and tropical cyclones are, by themselves, not unusual in the region,[3] the combination of the two in February this year unleashed flooding on a massive scale. Ross Mountain, Special Humanitarian Envoy of the Secretary-General for Mozambique, and Director of United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Geneva described the flooding as being "unprecedented in living memory in excess of 50 years".[4]

5. Prior to the recent flooding, Mozambique was regarded as a success story: the economy was growing at about 8 per cent per annum, macro economic management was widely acknowledged to be sound and, with the government committed to reducing poverty, additional resources were being committed to health and education. In its Mozambique Country Strategy Paper, DFID concluded that "progress is being made, from a low base, towards the International Development Targets ... The prospects for an effective development partnership with Mozambique are good".[5] Accordingly, DFID expenditure had grown from £19 million in 1996-7 to £24 million last year and was expected to reach £38 million by 2001-2002. The Secretary of State for International Development reinforced this view in oral evidence to the Committee, "Nine years ago... [Mozambique] made a peace and people who had fought very brutally became Government and opposition in the Parliament, which is a remarkable achievement in my view. It became a great reformer, a very brave government, a desperately poor country with limited capacity, but taking the country forward, with good economic growth, concerned to put in place social programmes, and then this terrible catastrophe".[6] The Committee, in the course of its recent visit to Mozambique, was able to witness, at first hand, not just the damage wrought by the recent flooding, but the significant developmental progress made by Mozambique since the end of the civil war.

Brief Chronology of Events

6. The Government, in its memorandum to the Committee, stated that "there were two distinct phases [of flooding], pre and post 25 February".[7] The first flooding in Mozambique occurred in Maputo province in the middle of January as a result of exceptionally heavy rains both in Mozambique and across Southern Africa. Several thousand people were displaced as a result of this early flooding.[8] The flooding was exacerbated by a further period of heavy rain from 4 to 7 February. This additional flooding affected some 700,000 people in Mozambique, many of whom were forced to move to temporary accommodation in makeshift shelters, schools and other public buildings. It prompted OCHA to field a five-member UN Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) Team to Mozambique. The team, led by an OCHA staff member and composed of emergency experts provided by the World Food Programme (WFP) and the Governments of the United Kingdom, Austria and Zambia, arrived in Maputo on 12 February supported by two further disaster experts provided by DFID.[9]

7. By 22 February, although the Limpopo River was still rising, most others were beginning to drop. Some people had even begun to leave the high ground, where they had congregated, and return to their homes.[10] The Government of Mozambique launched an appeal for international assistance amounting to US$65 million on 23 February to cover both emergency activities and sectors such as food, shelter, water and sanitation.[11] Having launched the appeal, and having made sure that the UN incountry team was prepared to take over, the UNDAC team left Mozambique on 24 February.

8. Cyclone Eline struck Mozambique on 21-22 February and progressed up the Save Valley leaving a trail of serious damage from high winds and precipitation. The cyclone continued into Zimbabwe where it dumped a massive amount of rain; this, together with heavy rains in Swaziland, caused rivers to rise across the region; dams were forced to increase their discharges in order to avoid damage. The resulting increases in river flows caused a flood crest to surge down the Limpopo, Save, Buze and Inkomati rivers overnight on Friday 25 February.[12] Mozambique was completely unprepared for the resultant rise in floodwaters — some 1.4 metres in the space of just 24 hours. At one stage 100,000 people were stranded by the floodwaters. In the days following the flooding of 25 February, over 40,000 people were rescued from treetops, rooftops and patches of high ground, some 15,000 of these by seven South African National Defence Force (SANDF) helicopters, which had been working in the region since 11 February. In total, DFID has informed the Committee that the total number directly affected by the disaster is 700,000 people, of whom 473,000 require food aid.[13] The World Bank states that, of that number, 490,000 people were, as a result of the disaster, displaced from their homes or trapped in flood-isolated areas. Despite the massive scale of the flooding, to date about 640 people are known to have died as a result of the flooding.[14]

Table 1: Chronology of Events

Date	Event
Mid-January	Flooding first reported in Mozambique.
4-7 February	Heavy rains lead to further flooding affecting some 200,000 people.
Saturday 12 February	The first UNDAC team arrives in Maputo supported by two DFID disaster experts.
Wednesday 23 February	The Government of Mozambique launches an appeal for international assistance amounting to US$65 million.
Thursday 24 February	The UNDAC team leaves Mozambique.
Friday 25 February	Floodwaters rise by 1.4 metres in Mozambique.
Saturday 26 February	DFID phones the MoD to ascertain what UK assets were in the region. DFID is told that the nearest assets are 3,000 miles away. DFID provides a grant of US$1 million to fund the SANDF helicopters already in Mozambique.
Tuesday 29 February	Second UNDAC team arrives in Mozambique. A donor meeting is held in Geneva where donors pledge more than US$13 million to flood-affected victims in Mozambique in addition to 'in kind equipment'. DFID contracts five further helicopters: two already working in Mozambique and a further three from South Africa (the additional helicopters were not deployed until 3 March). DFID also deploys an Emergency Response Team comprising boats, rafts, land rovers and shelter material. DFID is contacted by the MoD at 9am to ask if it required the use of MoD assets. DFID authorises the deployment of the recce team and inquires what assets are available. At 3pm, DFID is informed by the MoD of available assets together with approximate costings amounting to £2.34 million. DFID takes a decision not to deploy UK military assets at this time.
Wednesday 1 March	The MoD submits a revised costing totalled £1.15 million. The MoD also provides an estimate for the deployment of the RFA Fort George of £1.4 million. On the basis of the revised estimate, DFID decides to deploy the Pumas.
Thursday 2 March	At 5pm DFID requests the deployment of the RFA Fort George from the Gulf.
Friday 3 March	The four Puma helicopters are despatched at 9pm, their departure having been delayed by engine trouble on the Antonov cargo plane.
Saturday 4 March	The remaining three helicopters chartered by DFID on 29 February begin work. Of the five helicopters, four are used for search and rescue operations.
Sunday 5 March	The first two Puma helicopters commence operations at 8am, being used primarily for the movement of relief supplies.
Monday 6 March	The second two Puma helicopters commence operations at 8am.
Saturday 11 March	The RFA Fort George arrives off Mozambique, beginning operations at 6am.
Wednesday 19 March	Pumas withdrawn.
Friday 24 March	RFA Fort George departs.
Thursday 30 March	A preliminary assessment by the World Bank estimates the losses resulting from the floods as ranging from US$270 million to US$430 million, with two million people estimated to have been severely affected by the crisis.