At least 80 Mozambican children lost their parents to the blasts at the national army’s Malhazine armoury in Maputo in March.
Spokesperson Luis Covina told national Radio Mozambique that authorities had finished compiling a ”social impact report” of the blasts that occurred at the national forces’ Armada de Mocambique (FADM) armoury warehouse on March 22.
He said that from the information gathered it was found that 80 children were orphaned after the blasts, while scores of others lost a parent.
The series of explosions also left 18 widowers and seven widows, Covane told Radio Mozambique in an interview broadcast on the station’s Tuesday evening news edition.
The government had completed the distribution of ”reconstruction kits” to those who lost their homes when the powerful blasts rocked Maputo’s poor townships located near the army warehouse.
The recipients were given roofing sheets, cement and bricks to start rebuilding their homes and the government was also funding other costs related to the construction.
Missiles and rockets which the army said were obsolete, collected from the country’s 16 year civil war, exploded for more than three hours, destroying residential and commercial premises.
The impact of blasts shook buildings located in central Maputo and in places more than 15km away.
According to official figures the death toll was 103, while more than 500 were injured.
Covane told the station that 15 people, some of whom had lost limbs in the blasts, remained in Maputo hospitals.
Five seriously injured children are in South Africa where they were transferred last month for specialised treatment. A South African organisation funded the transfer of the children.
A government-appointed commission of inquiry into the blasts revealed they were caused by ”human error”.
The national army authorities blamed the blasts on high temperatures while government critics and international military analysts said it was due to negligence on the part of the government.
Covane told the radio station that the townships affected by the blasts would be declared free of unexploded arms in the next 15 days, more than three months after the event.
Several missiles and rockets which landed on residential and commercial premises remained unexploded for several days.
Teams from the army and de-mining companies combed the townships for unexploded arms, which were later destroyed at a venue outside Maputo with the assistance of weapon specialists from South Africa.
Similar destruction exercises were also scheduled at the army’s munitions dumps in Beira and Nampula.
Defence minister Tobias Dai told reporters at the end of April that the transfer of the country’s armouries away from residential areas in the major towns of Maputo, Beira and Nampula would be completed by December.
After visiting victims of the blasts, a day after the explosions, President Armando Guebuza said the ”offending armouries” would have to be transferred.
The Malhazine armoury — built by the Russians in 1984 — has gone up in smoke three times — in 1985 and twice in 2007. The March 22 blasts were considered the worst in terms of death toll, injuries and destruction of property.
The government afterwards declared three days of national mourning. – Sapa