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Source: Cyclone Idai disaster: Survivors speak out | Herald (Opinion)

Rumbidzayi Zinyuke Senior Writer
“It happened and they all died, I have to accept that there is nothing I can do to change that. But how will I go back home? Where will l stay? What if the storms come back again?

“How will I survive after this? I am afraid.”

This is the story of a survivor of Cyclone Idai in Chimanimani, a mountainous region in the eastern part of Zimbabwe.

Fear is one thing that has gripped most of the people who survived the torrential rains that brought with them death and destruction in Chimanimani.

Fear of going back to the scene where it all happened, and fear of an uncertain future has gripped many of the survivors here.

The survivors just don’t know how they are going to rebuild their lives again.

Aid workers are desperately trying to get emergency supplies to thousands of people hit by Cyclone Idai that swept across Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe on the eastern part of Southern Africa.

An estimated 2 million people have been affected, with Mozambique, which was the worst affected recording up to 417 deaths, with 1 400 feared injured while in Zimbabwe, 259 have been killed and 200 injured.

In Malawi 56 have been killed, with 577 injured.

Delivering relief to many of the survivors remains a struggle. Damaged bridges and blocked roads have delayed access to many areas.

Relief supplies for survivors are being helicoptered in, bringing hope to many who are still grieving the loss of their loved ones.

Hundreds are still missing adding to the pain of most people here in Chimanimani.

The known death toll from the disaster is more than 700 now and aid agencies say the final figures could be well over a thousand.

On March 14, Cyclone Idai hit the port city of Beira in Mozambique before moving inland to Zimbabwe and Malawi, bringing devastation first with winds notching up a speed of up to 170km per hour and then with flooding that followed.

Greater focus now is on bringing food to survivors and on preventing the spread of cholera and other water-borne diseases to the survivors.

A visit to patients admitted at Chipinge District Hospital recently showed the devastating impact of Cyclone Idai.

Besides physical wounds which the survivors sustained, they also suffered emotional and spiritual wounds that will take time to heal, if at all they can heal.

There was a palpable aura of fear and defeat.

Cyclone Idai robbed them of something more than they could imagine. It stole life and left an empty hole in its place.

Mrs Lucy Chitare (66) had visited her sister from Zhombe, when the disaster struck.

She had brought her son with her and he died along with her sister and her sons too.

No tears came down her cheeks as she narrated how she survived. She had cried until there were no more tears.

But the pain in her eyes said it all.

There was an unmistakable stamp of deep pain buried deep inside her heart.

The trauma was unfathomable.

So many questions raced in her mind.

Confusion also lurked somewhere in there.

Losing five relatives at one go is scary and deeply troubling.

“We arrived from Kwekwe on Thursday evening and on Friday evening the rains started. No one realised the potential disaster, but I saw the walls becoming wet and I advised my younger sister that we should not go to bed early but rather we stay awake and assess the intensity of the rainfall,” Chitare said.

“After a while, we retired to bed only to be awakened by noises from other neighbours. Before we could react, our roof caved in and we were trapped. I cannot tell you what I saw because things happened so fast.

“I only survived because a wire hooked my right foot and I could not move. I stayed trapped for hours until help arrived.

“I survived, but my son died, the owner of the house and my sister also died, as did her children. There were eight of us in the house and the other five died, two boys were seriously injured and they are admitted at Mutare Provincial Hospital.”

She does not know if her relatives have been buried or not, but that is no longer important.

She has to pick up the pieces and go back home to Zhombe where she will have to recount her ordeal over and over to relatives, neighbours and everyone who wants to know what happened.

Never mind that they will be reopening her emotional wounds.

She can only hope that she will be able to move on.

For Pascar Chimwero (30) life will never be the same.  He lost a child, his brother, sister-in-law and two of their children when the cyclone hit their home in Machongwe Village.

But the death of five of his relatives is not as hard as the prospect of going back to that place where it happened. His troubled eyes told a story of a deeper pain.

“There were nine of us in the house, only four of us managed to survive the cyclone and the other five died. We were struck by rocks that fell from the mountains and they destroyed the house and all the structures at the homestead.

“My uncle helped me out of the rubble which had trapped me and we managed to help others although l was too weak to continue. I know my wife survived, unfortunately, my brother, his wife and children and my own son did not survive,” he said.

“I was discharged today but the physical wounds I suffered are nothing compared to what I feel inside. I am hurting. I am confused. All our properties were destroyed. We have nowhere to start.”

Webster Mapembedza (36) from the same village also expressed his fear that his home was no longer safe. When we leave the hospital, we will have to go back home, but what if we go back there and the cyclone comes back and finishes us off?” he said.

Mrs Elina Mavhiza (41) said although her family had survived, their home had been swept away. She was airlifted along with her three-year-old daughter to Chipinge Hospital.

She said she was worried about her husband and four children who had remained behind.

Her immediate worry is how she will get there.

“We were brought here by helicopter and my daughter has already been discharged. When the doctor clears me as well, we will have to go back there. But we have no way of getting home. I want to be with my family but then again, I am afraid that the rocks that were moved by the cyclone will continue falling and hit us again,” she said.

She expressed hope that Government will help them rebuild their homes as soon as possible.

“I just want to go back to the way things used to be. I don’t know if that is possible, but we can only try.”

The scale of the devastation is massive and has disrupted and isolated households and communities.

The post Cyclone Idai disaster: Survivors speak out appeared first on Zimbabwe Situation.

The rising stench of decomposing Cyclone Idai victims buried under debris at Ngangu in Chimanimani is now helping the recovery of bodies with residents saying sniffer dogs will quicken the pace of recovery of their missing relatives. NewsDay yesterday witnessed the body of a boy aged around 12 years being retrieved from debris of a […]

Source: Matemadanda scoffs at Kasukuwere threats | The Herald March 27, 2019

Cde Matemadanda

Lawrence Chitumba Mash Central Correspondent
Zanu-PF will neither lose sleep nor be intimidated by the recent rantings of Saviour Kasukuwere and his G40 cabal that they are ready to take the party head-on, a Politburo member has said.

Speaking during an interface with war veterans, war collaborators and detainees in Bindura last week, Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association (ZNLWVA) secretary-general Victor Matemadanda said G40 members like Jonathan Moyo should not fool themselves by thinking they are greater schemers than Zanu-PF.

“Kasukuwere is saying it will be rough; to who?” he asked. “As a party, we will not lose sleep or be disturbed from making babies by a goat which is rubbing its body against the bedroom walls. Kasukuwere is a hopeless man and there is nothing he can do to the party.

“Professor Jonathan Moyo thinks he is a great schemer. Let us see him scheme while out there in the cold, outside the country.

“Once you are beaten and driven out of the village and you tell yourself that you are going to scheme, what are you going to scheme, don’t fool yourself.

“They are now saying we have the likes of Mutumwa Mawere. Since you are a professor, why you can’t just write educational curriculum for schools and tertiary institutions where you belong because politics is our game.”

The post Matemadanda scoffs at Kasukuwere threats appeared first on Zimbabwe Situation.

Source: Census for cyclone-ravaged communities | The Herald March 27, 2019

Minister Gwaradzimba

Herald Reporters
Government will conduct a census using official records to ascertain the number of people who have been staying in communities that were affected by Cyclone Idai in Chimanimani and Chipinge. This comes as South Africa yesterday despatched a team of 12 people — including police officers and sniffer dogs — to Manicaland Province to help with rescue and recovery efforts being spearheaded by the Government.

Manicaland Provincial Affairs Minister Dr Ellen Gwaradzimba spoke about the census on Monday while apprising UNFPA representative Dr Esther Muia of the situation in the affected areas.

Dr Gwaradzimba said there was a large number of people who have not been accounted for since the disaster struck, making it difficult to rely on assumptions.

“We have got a number of people who died and it is very difficult to ascertain the exact number,” she said.

“It is difficult to rely on assumptions, but for those that have not been accounted for we say they are missing until we have got evidence that they actually died because people are scattered and displaced.

“So at the moment we are still to carry out a census based on official records on the people who lived within a locality. That way, we would be able to establish whether someone died or not,” she said.

Dr Gwaradzimba thanked individuals, organisations and other countries for their donations and support.

She appealed for more aid, saying there was still a lot to be done in terms of relief. Dr Muia said they were looking forward to receive accurate figures for them to ascertain the amount of assistance they could render to the victims.

“As a UN we really appreciate the leadership of the provincial administrator and that of the district administrator in coordinating this humanitarian response.

“Coordination is tough and it comes with its challenges. What is important is that we continue working with your leadership and we know we will succeed.

“As UN, as we stand ready to support, we really need accurate figures because when you hear that a pregnant has given birth by herself, we ask ourselves how many are out there and might have complications.

She added: “We have put staff on the ground starting today and every agency has its strength. We know under your leadership we will be able to reach out to your brothers and sisters who are out there.”

Dr Muia and her team proceeded to Chimanimani and Chipinge where they were expected to spend two days assessing the impact of the cyclone.

After the meeting, Dr Gwaradzimba also received goods worth more than US$50 000 from ActionAid International and a consignment of goods from the United Arab Emirates.

The South African team, which is expected to start work today, is led by Mr Justine Colbert.

It will assist to recover trapped bodies, and distribute humanitarian assistance donated by Gift of the Givers Foundation in the form of wheelchairs, advanced life support machines, stationary for school children, blankets, clothes and food stuffs.

Briefing journalists yesterday soon after the team’s arrival at the South African Embassy and before its departure for Manicaland, South African Ambassador to Zimbabwe Ambassador Mphakama Mbete said the team came under the umbrella of the Gift of the Givers Foundation, which has been working with the South African government over the years.

He said the team was coming in at the request of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade.

“We have in our midst a big team from South Africa comprising of members from South African police who have come here to assist in the aftermath of cyclone Idai. They are coming here under the umbrella of the Gift of the Givers Foundation,” he said.

“A few days ago the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade said what is urgently needed in Zimbabwe is a rescue team and sniffer dogs to assist in recovering trapped bodies,” he said.

“Many people have disappeared and indeed from time to time corpses of people are being found mainly on the Zimbabwean side but sometimes on the Mozambique side. I am very happy that team South Africa has finally sent a team of people to assist in this regard,” said Ambassador Mbete.

Local Government, Public Works and National Housing Minister July Moyo, who chairs the Cabinet Committee on Environment, Disaster Prevention and Management, told corporates earlier yesterday that the South African contingent will work with the ZRP and army units who are already in the area.

Minister Moyo, who was updating the corporates in Harare on tropical Cyclone Idai flood induced disaster, the key priority interventions as well as the immediate and short term requirements, said the coming in of sniffer dogs was critical especially when it is believed that a lot of people are still buried under mudslides and boulders.

“We cannot quantify how many people were in those areas in that particular day who were affected by the cyclone. We continue with our rescue operations endeavour and right now we are today expecting two teams of assistance of sniffer dogs who are able to sniff dead bodies,” he said.

“Sniffer dogs are now sophisticated. They can sniff for gold, mbanje or other drugs but there are specially-trained ones which can sniff for dead bodies. We generally do not have them in Zimbabwe and therefore, we are getting assistance from our neighbouring countries and today we are going to receive two teams that are coming from South Africa. There will be four teams that will be deployed to work with ZRP and army units who are already in the area.”

He said 329 people are missing but it was hard to quantify the actual number as there were artisanal miners in the area and some people who may not have been reported as missing.

“In Manicaland, the cumulative number of deaths is 179, burials (102), unidentified bodies buried (12), injuries (186), missing people (329), displaced (6 788), number of children affected (3 500), displaced refugees (2 000), number of casualties airlifted to Skyline (52), houses affected (7 703), food insecure population (40 064) and number of bridges damaged (11).

“We still have not accounted for all because we still have a large number that is missing and even from that large number which is missing, we think we are missing some who have not been reported. We suspect that those who are missing from families are buried under the avalanche of the mudslides which came from the mountains,” he said.

He added: “Heavy stones have replaced what used to be residential areas. That is why we are suspecting that we still have a lot of people who are missing. We might mention that a headmaster is missing but we are not able to say how many were in that household.”

Minister Moyo said one of the affected areas, Kopa Growth Point (Chimanimani) was a trading area for bananas hence a lot of people came to buy bananas from that area and they might also be missing since the disaster was sudden in terms of the impact it had.

He said artisanal miners who were engaged in those areas could also be missing.

The post Census for cyclone-ravaged communities  appeared first on Zimbabwe Situation.

JOSTLING for positions in the MDC has heightened with many high-ranking officials vying for senior positions ahead of the congress coming in two months’ time. Almost 10 names have been thrown into the ring for the vice-presidents’ positions and while others are reportedly lining themselves for the remaining top positions, among them secretary-general and the […]