Heavy rains throughout the month of March have resulted in the worst flooding in almost half a century in Namibia’s remote Caprivi Strip, forcing thousands of people from their homes. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies has launched an appeal for 797,000 Swiss francs (US$ 630,000) to bring urgently needed relief assistance to those affected and to protect them from malaria and other water-borne diseases.
The Federation has already supported the response of the Namibia Red Cross by funding initial relief activities and dispatching a regional disaster response team to the Caprivi Strip to assess the population’s needs. The appeal seeks to provide support for 50,000 people for five months. This will include sending 12,000 blankets, 1,500 tents, 5,000 tarpaulins, 8,000 jerry cans, 20,000 mosquito nets, three emergency health kits, 80,000 bars of soap and 3,000 packets of pesticide and 3.6 million water purification tablets to affected communities.
The Zambezi has risen well beyond the level it reached last year, when the area was also hit by serious flooding, and is now affecting areas that do not usually experience floods. The Namibian authorities say these are the worst floods in the area since 1958.
“Families are moving their belongings to higher ground, but they have limited shelter,” says Razia Essack-Kauaria, secretary general of the Namibia Red Cross. She says that the high HIV/AIDS prevalence rates in the region, which are as high as 43 per cent, are an additional cause for concern.
“The contamination of water sources could provoke outbreaks of water-borne diseases, and malaria is endemic in the region and already a problem. These would deepen the vulnerability of these communities, so access to safe water is a central element of our operation,” Essack-Kauaria explains. “The floods are also threatening this year’s harvest, and this is a region where chronic food insecurity already prevails.”
While the Caprivi Strip has been the hardest hit, other regions in Southern Africa have also been affected by the swollen Zambezi. Localised floods have already been reported in Botswana, Zimbabwe and Mozambique