With the imminent start of the planting season, the race is on to
provide emergency assistance to more than 100,000 vulnerable flood
victims in Mozambique currently in largely inaccessible sites.

Persistent heavy rainfall in central and northern Mozambique in
January and February this year caused large-scale flooding and
destruction in the Zambezi river basin which runs through four of
the country's 10 provinces.

About 285,000 people were directly affected by the floods, with
163,000 of them displaced from their homes and land. An estimated
107,500 have sought safety in temporary and often inaccessible
sites with the remainder taking shelter in resettlement centres
established by the government following the massive floods in 2000
and 2001.

Although the waters from the Zambezi have now having largely
receded, the loss of homes, crops and livelihoods has left most of
the affected in a particularly vulnerable state.

In a bid to prevent such large-scale losses in the future, the
Mozambican government is working hard to identify and allocate
nearly 24,000 parcels of land on higher and safer ground in order
to resettle the displaced. Families will have their main homestead
in these areas but are expected to continue their traditional
agricultural activities along the fertile margins of the
Zambezi.

IOM will be providing non-food items to those displaced who have
received the least assistance so far after receiving nearly
US$800,000 from the UN's Central Emergency Revolving Fund (CERF).
Priority needs are shelter framing materials, fixings, blankets,
sleeping mats, tarpaulins and tool kits.

The Organization will also provide critical support to the
Mozambican government for the resettlement activities. With
partners, IOM will establish mobile operational units in the field
to help identify, demarcate and legalize thousands of family home
sites with a view to maintaining access to livelihoods, traditional
lands and essential social services.

"It is essential that we get help to people very fast and that
they are able to restart their lives in the next few weeks. If they
are unable to start planting in the next few weeks, it will be that
much harder to recover from the disaster," said Mark Heffernan,
IOM's Chief of Mission in Mozambique.

The funds from CERF will also enable IOM and its partners to
support a substantial number of families affected by Cyclone Favio,
which damaged thousands of homes, hospitals, schools and crops in
one of the country's prime tourist zones in the northern Inhambane
province.

For further information, please contact:]

Mark Heffernan

IOM Mozambique

Tel: +258 82 07 23 700

E-mail: "mailto:mheffernan@iom.int" target="_blank" title=
"">mheffernan@iom.int