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dam-l kariba and floods by BBC/LS
Wednesday, 8 March, 2000, 00:27 GMT
Aid arrives for desperate Zambians
Farms downstream from the Kariba Dam are flooded
By Zambia correspondent Ishbel Matheson
The first consignment of emergency food supply has
arrived in Zambia's lower Zambezi Valley where 15,000
people are at risk of starvation.
Subsistence farmers in the area lost a year's supply of
food after severe flooding caused by the opening of
the Kariba Dam gates further upstream.
On the one-and-a-half hour journey down the Zambezi it
was possible to see the full extent of the flooding.
In places the river has swollen into a lake, islands have
been submerged, and only the tops of banana and
pawpaw trees were visible.
Crops rotting
The crops of maize, pumpkins and ground nuts growing
along the banks of the Zambezi are rotting under water.
The Kariba dam overspill
gates were opened a week
ago because of fears that
the dam might burst after
exceptionally heavy rainfall
in the upper reaches of the
Zambezi.
But little thought had been
given to the impact of the
rising river levels on
subsistence farmers
downstream.
There was certainly no
contingency plan in place to
help the local population
cope with the catastrophe.
Not enough aid
At the settlement of Mugulameno, where the emergency
food supplies were delivered, people were eating
cucumbers for lunch.
They said cucumber and pumpkin was all they had had
to eat for days now, and said they were starving.
Three thousand people will benefit from the maize meal
which was delivered, but the food will only last a few
days at most and many more people are still going
hungry.
All the emergency help which has arrived so far has
come from the private sector.
The Zambian Government, which has organised over a
million dollars' worth of aid for neighbouring
Mozambique, has yet to help its own people.
"The government should remember that charity begins
at home," said one local man on the Zambezi.
--------------
Monday, 6 March, 2000, 09:44 GMT
Flooding destroys Zambian crops
By Ishbel Matheson in Lusaka
More than 12,000 people in Zambia are at risk of
starvation in the Lower Zambezi area following the
opening of the Kariba Dam gates more than a week ago.
A year's supply of food for thousands of people who
farm along the banks of the Zambezi River was wiped
out in just nine hours after the dam gates were opened.
Crops of maize, bananas, pumpkins and ground nuts
were submerged by the rising water levels.
Local people have been so
desperate to salvage any of
the precious food that they
have been diving from
canoes to try to harvest the
underwater crops.
However, this has proved a
risky undertaking - at least
one farmer has been
attacked and seriously
injured by a crocodile.
Local leaders are now
warning that without urgent
supplies of food, the
people of the Lower
Zambezi will starve.
Heavy rain
The overspill gates at Kariba were opened because
heavy rain further up the Zambezi led to fears that the
dam might burst, causing a major catastrophe
throughout the region.
But little thought appears to have been given to the
impact on the subsistence farmers further down the river.
Local people complain they were given very little
information about the operation and there certainly
seems to be no contingency plan in place to help
people or businesses affected by the dramatic rise in
water levels.
The Lower Zambezi is one the premier holiday
destinations in Zambia and many of the tourist lodges
which contribute vital income to the country have been
flooded.
The Zambian Government, which has donated $1m in
medical supplies and food to neighbouring
Mozambique, has still to act to help its own people.
Despite the visits of government ministers and the
establishment of an emergency committee, major
assistance has yet to be delivered to the people of the
Lower Zambezi.
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Lori Pottinger, Director, Southern Africa Program,
and Editor, World Rivers Review
International Rivers Network
1847 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, California 94703, USA
Tel. (510) 848 1155 Fax (510) 848 1008
http://www.irn.org
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