Red Cross donates to Tropical Ana victims

FOLLOWING the destruction of hundreds of houses in Mutasa, Mutare Rural and Nyanga districts by Tropical Storm Ana last week, Zimbabwe Red Cross has urged communities to use the ‘build back better’ concept and build structures that can withstand harsh weather conditions.

Speaking after an assessment tour on the effects of Tropical Storm Ana recently, Red Cross Zimbabwe Manicaland provincial manager, Mr Munyaradzi Chikukwa said there is need to build stronger new structures as most of the collapsed structures destroyed were of poor quality.

The assessment concluded that more than 300 houses were affected, with most of them razed down to the ground. Some had their roofs blown off, while others were partially destroyed. Property worth thousands of dollars was also destroyed.

As the organisation conducted its assessment, it distributed immediate response materials to affected families in Mutasa and Nyanga districts.

The immediate response materials included blankets, hygiene kits for women, mosquito nets, tents, buckets, and face masks.

“As part of our humanitarian interventions, when we got the call that Tropical Storm Ana was heading towards Manicaland, we re-positioned disaster response material in risk areas and when disaster struck, we coordinating with our volunteers to raise awareness for people to move to safer grounds,” said Mr Chikukwa.

He said they will continue mobilising for funds and resources to help capacitate affected communities with stronger structures.

“We are still engaging our partners as well as mobilising resources which will help communities to build stronger structures that will be resistant to disasters and harsh weather conditions,” he said.

The storm also destroyed roads, schools and clinics in the three districts.

Narrating her ordeal, Ms Grace Chimbadzwa of Chidazembe in Mutasa said she escaped death by a whisker.

“After raining heavily the previous day and night, at around 2am, my husband woke me up and told me that we had to vacate the house as it was flooding inside. The children and I immediately moved to the other house. While he was removing property from the affected house to the other, the structure collapsed.

“We are so lucky that we had already moved from the house, otherwise all of us could have perished. The same thing happened to the other house we had moved into, but we all survived,” she said.

The incident happened while she was with her husband and four children aged 15, 11, seven and four.

Another villager, Ms Pauline Padzowa said she and her toddler also narrowly escaped death when bricks started raining in her bedroom that fateful morning.

“It is a miracle that we are alive. We would have died because we were asleep when all this happened. I woke up after a brick hit me on the head. I quickly picked my child up and stormed out of the house,” she said.

Both women thanked Zimbabwe Red Cross for the immediate response kits.

“We are very grateful for the donation that include tents as we now have temporary shelter. Our greatest wish is for well-wishers to help us with bricks and cement so that we can build stronger structures,” said Ms Padzowa.

Chidazembe village head, Mr Victor Nyakurimwa said at least 21 houses collapsed in his area.

“Most of these houses were not strong so when the storm hit us, they were affected. While people should be encouraged to build back better, I think there is also need for them to be assisted with the adequate resources for that,” he said.

In a separate interview, Acting Deputy Director in the WASH Department under the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development, Mr Lovemore Dhobha said the province should be equipped for disasters like cyclones, tropical depressions and storms.