1,000+ people marooned for 2 weeks

MORE than 1 000 people from about 200 homesteads in Sibhula village in Gwanda have been trapped for about two weeks due to flooded rivers that have isolated the area, threatening villagers with starvation.

The isolation of the villagers has forced the Civil Protection Unit to dispatch a helicopter with food and clothes to the area to avert a disaster.

Two major rivers in the area - Hovi and Maleme - are flooded and have cut off villagers from other areas and essential services.

A total of 126 homesteads from the affected 200 were on the Government's drought relief programme and had not been receiving grain due to the flooded rivers, leaving villagers on the verge of starvation.

Gwanda District Civil Protection Unit chairperson (GDCPU), who is also the acting District Administrator, Mr Judge Dube, said they were not evacuating the villagers, but were providing them with food and clothes.

"The situation on the ground is that the entire village of Sibhula has been restricted in movement for two weeks now. Sibhula is a village of about 200 households and approximately 1 000 people. There are 126 households under the Government's drought relief programme. In a way, one can conclude that the village has been marooned all along. However, no casualties have occurred but the imminent danger now is that the villagers are running out of food," he said.

Mr Dube said there was an immediate need for medical supplies for 50 villagers who were on Anti-Retroviral Treatment (ART) and 10 patients who were on TB treatment.

"Our assessment could, however, not establish any other medical needs of the community since it was difficult to have a conversation with those villagers who managed to gather on the other side of the banks of Hovi River. More information is being sought in this regard. There's also a need to supply the community with food items since some indicated that they have run out of food," he said.

Mr Dube said the GDCPU managed to mobilise food from the Department of Social Welfare, and non-governmental organisations which were airlifted by a helicopter to the villagers yesterday and on Thursday.

The Government has launched an international humanitarian appeal due to the floods that affected nearly all parts of the country's provinces, killing 246 people.

At least 128 people were injured, 1 576 marooned, while 1 985 were left homeless in floods that left a trail of destruction.

The appeal for assistance comes after President Mugabe this week declared the floods a state of disaster as they have ravaged most parts of the country, with $100 million needed to repair road infrastructure.