10,000 left homeless as heavy rains ravage Zambia

HEAVY rains have destroyed crops and swept away bridges and houses in a hunger-stricken part of Zambia, leaving more than 10,000 homeless, a senior government official said yesterday.

Webster Mulubisha, permanent secretary in the vice president’s office, said heavy rains had destroyed huge fields of maize and infrastructure in the Gwembe district, 240 miles south of the capital Lusaka.

Prolonged rain had damaged electricity and telephone poles and many roads had become impassable, he said.

“Houses, including a police station, have been destroyed. There are huge craters on roads and the area is totally cut off. The damage is big and the government has already started giving relief food to more than 10,000 people,” Mulubisha said.

“Fields have been washed away and the people will definitely need (relief) food for a long time to come.

“Many people have been left homeless, and the government will have to provide tents for temporary shelter,” he said, adding that an estimated 10,000 people had been forced from their homes to higher ground.

Like many southern African states, Zambia already suffers from huge food shortages, affecting over a quarter of its population of almost 10 million.

The shortages, the region's worst in years, are partly a result of drought, but heavy rains have also broughthavoc to a number of countries, including Mozambique, Malawi, Zimbabwe and South Africa.

A senior government official said almost 2,000 hectares of maize, Zambia's main food, had been destroyed.

Director of the Meteorological Department Jacob Nkomoki blamed the rains on Cyclone Japhet, which caused flooding earlier this month in Zimbabwe and Mozambique. The United Nations World Food Programme airlifted emergency aid to victims in those countries.