Monitoring by Namibian Red Cross trained farmers helped provide early warning of floods in the country which have so far affected more than 25,000 people. Using basic methods to measure rising waters, people living in remote rural areas were able to alert authorities to the danger, triggering the evacuation of thousands to safety.
Dorkas Kapembe-Haiduwa, Secretary General of the Namibian Red Cross, was certain disaster preparedness training conducted by her Society had been vital in saving lives. “Thanks to our education and training programmes we have people in rural areas monitoring water levels using sticks in the ground, as soon as they noticed the waters were rising they sent out an alert,” she said. “People knew the flood was coming and had either already evacuated or were in the process of evacuating when the floods came - there have been no reported fatalities so far and I think we can put this down to the early warnings, evacuations and preparations which we helped put in place.”
Most heavily affected are areas in the north east of Namibia, with disaster assessment teams in Katima Urban and Katima Rural districts reporting that 2,000 people in those areas have been forced to abandon their homes. An unusually long and intense rainy season, which started early and looks like continuing beyond its usual end date, has taken its toll as torrential downpours lasting several days have combined to devastating effect. In some areas communities have been completely cut off from the rest of the country, with overland access only possible through neighbouring Zambia.
“We anticipate malaria and we have to work to ensure the health of those affected by the floods does not deteriorate,” said Kapembe-Haiduwa. “The most important things for us now are to provide shelter, to help those who have lost their homes, and also to distribute water purification tablets to safeguard people’s health.”
Supplies of vital items unavailable in Namibia had already started arriving from South Africa last week and the secretary general said she was confident mass distribution would be in place by the weekend (01/02/08). Furthermore, stocks are being repositioned from Zimbabwe to Namibia from the International Federation’s warehouse.
But the threat of floods spreading to the North West was a major concern, she stressed.
“Thanks to our preparations we think the situation in the north east is just about under control because we were ready for it. What we are really worried about is if conditions deteriorate in the north west any more – at the moment we don’t have the capacity to respond as well as we would need to but we are doing our best to be ready, “ she said. “Life isn’t going to return to normal anytime soon.”
Following the interview with the secretary general, the heavy rains have continued and flooding is causing major problems in the north western part of the country. The Namibian Red Cross has participated in an assessment with the Namibian Emergency Management Unit. Evacuations have taken place this weekend (2nd -3rd February) and the Red Cross has taken a very active role in assisting the affected communities with extra Red Cross staff being flown in over the weekend to assist. The most affected areas are Ohangwena, Oshikango, Ondobe, Onamunama and Odibo. Some roads are washed away, areas are out of communications and schools have closed down. Come clinics in the area are also not accessible any longer.
The major concern of the people is what the near future will bring. More rains are forecasted and are likely to continue until April or May. The effects of continued rains may create further flooding and a need for evacuations and much more relief supplies to cater for the increasing numbers of flood affected people. The Red Cross is continuously assessing the situation with authorities and other stakeholders, but is in immediate need of relief supplies.
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Last year, Namibia was also affected by heavy floods. (p17233)
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