08 Febuary 2007-PANA. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRCRC) has released additional funds to Red Cross National Societies in southern Africa to respond to devastating floods in the region, the federation announced Thursday.
The flooding that has caused increase in cholera cases in some areas has mostly affected Angola, Mozambique and Zambia.
 
The IFRCRC said in a media statement that it has released more than 270,000 Swiss Francs (about US$216,000) from its disaster relief emergency fund for Angola, Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia.
It also said an emergency appeal to combat cholera in Angola for 1.2 million Swiss Francs has been extended until June 2007, which to date is only 55 percent covered, and urgently appealed to donors to increase their support to avoid further spreading of the epidemics.
 
"The International Federation has released additional funds from its emergency reserves, and is ready to step in with more resources, if needed, since heavy rains are forecast," Françoise Le Goff, head of the IFRCRC regional delegation in Harare, Zimbabwe, stated.
"We need to urgently increase our response capacity by supporting our national societies to reach the victims in the disaster areas with basic commodities and make a difference to the most affected," she added.
 
According to the federation, in the Cacuaco region of Angola at least 71 people have died and 184 families have lost all their personal belongings, while roads were submerged and bridges damaged.
A total of 3,868 new cases of cholera have been reported in 15 out of 18 provinces, with Luanda, Cabinda and Benguela the most severely hit.
Torrential rains are reported to have also lashed parts of Zambia, destroying 200 houses and pit latrines in the areas of north-west Solwezi and northern Mpulungu, bringing up serious water and sanitation concerns.
 
The number of cholera cases over the last week has been on the rise in the capital, Lusaka, with a total of 414 cases being recorded and some 143 people reported dead.
In Mozambique, heavy rains have hit the North and Central regions and more than 6,000 people lost their homes and crops have been washed away, leading to a risk of food insecurity in the months to come in Nampula province.
Malawi Red Cross is providing emergency supplies to victims of torrential rains that have affected more than 20,000 households in the Chikwawa district, while 475 houses have collapsed in the Nsanje district and nearly 900 hectares of crops have been washed away
 
In Zimbabwe, at least 9 cases of cholera were reported last month in Mabvuku, a suburb of the capital, Harare.
The Federation expressed concern that the lack of clean drinking water and the lack of garbage collection are aggravating the threat of communicable diseases in Zimbabwe. 
 

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