Two helicopters and mobile water-purification plants are scheduled to head for Mozambique this week to help with flood relief.
Department of Provincial and Local Government spokesperson Luzuko Koti said negotiations are going on between government departments for further items that will contribute to the neighbourly help effort.
These include a field hospital and water- and wind-resistant tents.
”Three helicopters were requested. We can provide a minimum of two,” he said.
The aircraft will be able to offer Mozambique 170 hours’ flying time.
Koti said one mobile- and one static-water purification plant will be available immediately.
Urban search-and-rescue teams could also be made available, he said.
Discussions about the field hospital are happening with the Health Department and the South African National Defence Force.
Last week, Cyclone Favio slammed into Mozambique’s southern coast bringing winds with speeds of up to 200kph, which caused extensive damage to most buildings and basic infrastructure in Vilankulo, a town of 120 000 residents.
Roofs were torn off homes, the local hospital, jail and a medicine depot, trees were uprooted and water and electricity supplies were severed.
Mozambique is already in the throes of serious flooding in the central Zambezi River valley, which has claimed at least 29 lives and prompted the evacuation of about 140 000 people, 50 000 of whom are being accommodated in emergency shelters.
On the weekend, Mozambicans were closely watching the course of another tropical storm developing off the coast of Madagascar, according to reports. — Sapa