Zambia has mobilised its army to clear drainage systems in major cities amid fears torrential rains and flooding may lead to outbreaks of cholera and other deadly diseases, a government official said on Wednesday.
Zambia, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi have been lashed by heavy rains for several weeks. Swollen rivers have burst their banks, killing dozens and forcing thousands of villagers to flee flooded homes.
Floods also have destroyed bridges and roads and swept away livestock and crops.
Officials and relief workers throughout the region have warned of the possibility of a sharp increase in water-borne diseases, primarily cholera, which causes intense diarrhoea and often kills its victims within hours.
Impoverished townships in the Zambian capital, Lusaka, and other urban centres, where floodwaters threaten to sweep through the ubiquitous pit latrines used by residents, are vulnerable to such a crisis.
”The problem in Lusaka is bigger than we all thought. The drainage system is blocked and water has stagnated for three to four weeks due to heavy rains,” Austin Sichinga, Zambia’s permanent secretary in charge of disasters, told Reuters.
”Soon we may have outbreaks of diseases such as dysentery and cholera,” Sichinga said.
He added that the government had mobilised the army and a standby force, known as the Zambia National Service (ZNS), to help municipal councils unblock drains and remove garbage.
”We have brought in the ZNS and the Zambia army to help the councils because they have no capacity to [clear drainage systems] on their own,” Sichinga said.
Zambia’s air force also has been placed on standby to airlift food to parts of the country hard hit by the flooding.
A similar effort is under way in neighbouring Mozambique, where the United Nations World Food Programme is planning to ferry 74 tonnes of food by helicopter as part of its relief efforts for tens of thousands of flood victims there.
The WFP said earlier this week it had begun handing out mosquito nets, tents and plastic sheeting in central Mozambique.
With no sign of a let-up in the rainy weather, there are fears the flooding could worsen in the coming weeks and devastate the largely agricultural economies in Southern Africa in the middle of the summer growing season.
Heavy downpours are common in the region in the rainy season, which runs generally from November to April, but the relentless rain has caught officials off guard. ‒ Reuters