Mozambique: Spanish team purifies 750,000 L water in flood-hit Gaza province

A Spanish mission ensured the purification of 750,000 litres of water in 27 days in the Mozambican province of Gaza, benefiting 375,000 people affected by floods that destroyed basic infrastructure, the Spanish Embassy announced on Monday. The AquaSTART team’s operation took place in the town of Hokwe, in the district of Chókwè, one of the regions most affected by the January floods in southern Mozambique, in an intervention coordinated by the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID). “The START team made 750,000 litres of water drinkable, reaching 375,000 people in an emergency situation marked by the collapse of basic infrastructure and mass displacement of the local population,” according to a joint press release from the Embassy and AECID.

Photo: AECID- Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional para el Desarrollo/X In Hokwe, home to around 14,500 people, 12,500 displaced persons from neighbouring communities were taken in at a shelter after the January floods, which affected around 724,000 people across the country. The main local water reservoir was rendered unusable by the floods and the alternative system had high levels of salinity, unsuitable for human consumption, aggravating the health risk, explains Spanish Cooperation. The AquaSTART module, included in the START (Spanish Technical Aid Response Team) team, in a mission involving 18 people from Madrid, Andalusia and Ceuta, was deployed on 3 February, ensuring a stable supply of drinking water, in coordination with the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) and the regional public water company.

“The donation will allow the system to remain operational after the START team leaves and be available for future emergencies, strengthening the resilience of the local water supply system,” AECID emphasises, adding that Mozambican technicians have been trained to ensure the maintenance of the equipment. The total number of deaths in the current rainy season in Mozambique has risen to 257, with nearly 869,000 people affected since October, according to an update from the disaster management institute. According to information from the database of the National Institute for Disaster Management and Risk Reduction (INGD), updated on Sunday evening, there are 15 more deaths than on Thursday. A total of 868,948 people have been affected during the current rainy season, corresponding to 200,824 families, with 12 missing and 331 injured, according to the same report.