wfn.org | ADRA Responds To Mozambique Flooding

[APD_Info_Schweiz@compuserve.com]

March 5, 2000
Adventist Press Service (APD)
Christian B. Schaeffler, Editor-in-chief
Fax +41-61-261 61 18
APD@stanet.ch
http://www.stanet.ch/APD
CH-4003 Basel, Switzerland

ADRA Responds To Mozambique Flooding

Maputo, Mozambique.  The Adventist Development 
and Relief Agency (ADRA) is responding to major 
flooding in southern Mozambique, providing food 
and preparing emergency kits for thousands of 
those affected. ADRA Mozambique already delivered 
US$25,000 of food aid in the areas outside Maputo 
and Motola, reports Curtis Hesse, ADRA Mozambique 
director. The Euro-Africa Division funded the 
relief.

"According to reports in Mozambique, there are 
more than 400,000 people affected by the 
flooding, including 80,000 children under the age 
of five," reports Hesse. "Most of their homes 
continue to be flooded, and all bridges over the 
Save River in the north are cut off, making 
relief efforts nearly impossible. In some places, 
the water is over the shoulder".

ADRA is organising additional assistance through 
its international network. ADRA Germany and ADRA 
Switzerland are organising the production of 
emergency kits for thousands of families. ADRA 
Mozambique staff met with the governor of Maputo 
to discuss the distribution of the emergency kits 
and additional food. The emergency kits will 
include such items as tarpaulins, mosquito nets, 
blankets and cooking pots.

The World Food Programme (WFP) is storing 100 
metric tonnes of food commodities at ADRAšs 
warehouse in northern Mozambique. The items 
include flour, oil, beans, salt and sugar.

"It could easily be another two months before the 
water recedes. In some areas, it is even still 
increasing from rivers feeding more water to the 
already flooded areas," explains Hesse. "As a 
result, ADRA staff are already putting together 
long-term plans to help the affected areas 
recover from the destruction of their crops. Our 
rehabilitation efforts will include providing 
seeds and technical advice on restoring lost 
crops."

In December 1999, the Australian government 
awarded ADRA with nearly US$1.5 million for a 
three-year Food Security/Cashew Reforestation 
Project in Mozambique. The purpose of the project 
is to increase food security within the 
households of 6,400 families (more than 38,400 
residents) in the Pebane District. ADRA has 
implemented similar programs elsewhere in 
Mozambique, and also in northern Ghana where more 
than 10 million trees were planted in the last 
nine years.

ADRA, established in 1956, is an independent, 
humanitarian agency created with the specific 
purpose of individual and community development 
and disaster relief in more than 120 countries 
world-wide.