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DEVELOPMENT-ZAMBIA: Counting the Cost of Recent Floods

Newton Sibanda

LUSAKA, May 5 2008 (IPS) - Samson Mwenda, a farmer from Namwala in Zambia’s Southern Province, recalls with bitterness the massive floods of the 2007/2008 rainy season and the harsh consequences they had for his life.

A prominent farmer who owns more than 3,000 head of cattle, Mwenda found that the floodwaters jeopardised his livelihood by making it impossible for him to get his livestock to market. The floods cut off access roads to the railway line and left him isolated from the rest of the country.

The local agent for Zambeef, one of largest agribusinesses in Zambia, also stopped buying cattle as the firm could not transport carcasses to market.

“As a farmer I depend on cattle for my livelihood, but I couldn’t take cattle to towns along the line of rail, where the price is better, because the road was cut off. Even the local abattoir stopped buying our animals because they could not deliver the carcasses to Lusaka (the capital),” said Mwenda.

He is also concerned about the effect the floods have had on his children’s education. They were not able to attend school for several weeks and he fears that the long absence from the classroom will affect their academic performance. In all, some 9,000 children have had their education disrupted, according to official figures.

Mwenda is only one of many people in the Namwala district who are still counting the cost of the recent floods.

George Shimalimbika worries that he may have to survive on relief food aid this year, as the floods washed away his maize crop. A retired soldier, Shimalimbika says he will also not be able to recover the cost of the seeds that have gone to waste.

The recent floods were particularly severe in Namwala, a small farming community on the banks of the Kafue River. In the Southern Province, it rained for eleven straight days in December. By comparison, there were only three days of rainfall recorded countrywide for November 2007.

Recording stations usually register between 800 and 1,100 millimetres of rain during the entire rainy season, between November and May. However in December 2007, some stations recorded more rain in 10 days than they normally do in the whole season.

The 2006/2007 rainy season was also severe; however, it was eclipsed by the more recent downpours.

“This season, like the last season, rainfall was quite excessive; but this year’s was more excessive,” said Maurice Muchinda, director of the meteorological department. “The floods have left a wide range of impacts. School attendance dropped drastically because schools were cut off. Drugs could not reach hospitals.”

The Zambia Vulnerability Assessment Committee (ZVAC) of the Disaster Management and Impact Mitigation Unit (DMMU) in the office of the vice president published an assessment of the damage caused by the flooding.

It surveyed 32 districts and found that 5,851 houses had collapsed; 1,693 households were displaced and infrastructure at 58 schools was severely damaged.

“The most serious effect is that infrastructure like roads and bridges has been extensively damaged, making movement of people and agricultural produce difficult,” said DMMU National Co-ordinator Domiciano Mulenga.

“People have been displaced and up to now a number of people are still in camps,” he added, noting that food security had been seriously affected because of crops being washed away.

The ZVAC report also reveals that 80 percent of districts assessed were left with poor quality drinking water. There was a noted increase in incidences of diseases such as malaria, diarrhoea and acute respiratory infections. According to Mulenga, the flooding caused pit latrines to flood, thereby affecting water supply and sanitation.

He said that the gravity of the situation had been somewhat mitigated by a massive response from relief organisations that had provided personnel, food and other supplies.

“The response has also involved airlifting supplies to districts cut off by the floods, and we are also partly involved in the rehabilitation process, as some communities have agreed to move to areas of resettlement,” Mulenga said, noting that government and donors had spent about 10 million dollars in the response to the flood situation.

“So, we are working on basic infrastructure in new areas like sinking boreholes and we are also discussing with the ministries of education and health to build schools and clinics respectively.”

The full consequences of the floods still need to be determined, according to Mulenga; the results of an in-depth survey of damages are due in June.