Mozambique close to a benchmark in managing extreme events, minister says

Mozambique’s Minister of Transport and Logistics, João Matlombe, said on Monday in the United Arab Emirates that the country has been “almost a benchmark” in measures to mitigate and reduce the negative impacts, especially fatalities, of extreme events. “Mozambique is a coastal country that has been cyclically ravaged by extreme events in recent years, and we have been almost a benchmark in measures to mitigate and reduce negative impacts, especially fatalities,” said João Matlombe, who is included in the delegation accompanying the country’s president, Daniel Chapo, on a working visit to the United Arab Emirates. According to the minister, at this time of heavy rains, Mozambique is becoming a benchmark in southern Africa for managing complex and severe events without high mortality rates.

“This is the result of work that the INGD [National Institute for Disaster Management and Risk Reduction] and various multisectoral institutions at the level of our Government have been carrying out as a mitigation measure, because we obviously cannot contain extreme events, but the way we deal with them ends up being a successful experience that can be shared with several countries,” he said. Mozambique will take some of these experiences to the Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week (ADSW) to share with the United Arab Emirates, said the Mozambican minister. Mozambique has experienced heavy rains in almost all parts of the country since last week, with the National Meteorological Institute issuing red warnings for heavy rains and thunderstorms, which are causing flooding, especially in the central and southern regions.

In the south, in Maputo province, two temporary accommodation centres are active in neighbourhoods on the outskirts of the capital, said Matola mayor Júlio Parruque. Mozambique is considered one of the countries most affected by climate change, frequently experiencing floods and tropical cyclones during the rainy season, which runs from October to April. Between 2019 and 2023, extreme events caused at least 1,016 deaths and affected around 4.9 million people, according to official data.