The National Institute for Disaster Risk Management and Reduction (INGD) needs an additional 7.4 billion meticais (€112 million) to cover the probable costs of the 2022/2023 rainy season, which could affect around 2.2 million people, the entity’s director general, Luísa Meque, said last week.
The number of people likely to be affected by calamities is “relatively high compared to last season,” Meque said during a meeting to assess and approve the entity’s contingency plans.
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According to the INGD president, the forecast number of those affected is due to the “high probability of occurrence of large-magnitude floods” and the still-continuing impact of the previous rainy season.
“Families are still feeling the effects of the last rainy season, which makes them more vulnerable,” Meque stressed.
The INGD has approximately 5.1 billion meticais (€77 million) available to cover its forecast costs of 12.5 billion meticais (€189 million).
Mozambique is considered one of the countries most severely affected by climate change, routinely facing floods and tropical cyclones during its annual April-to-October rainy season.
In the 2020/2021 rainy season, the country was hit by Tropical Storm Chalane and tropical cyclones Eloise and Gombe, in addition to experiencing several other bouts of intense rain and flooding.
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The 2018/2019 rainy season was one of the most severe in Mozambican history. Seven hundred and fourteen people died, including 648 victims of two of the biggest cyclones (Idai and Kenneth) ever to hit the country.
