Staff ReporterSad scenes from a Roman Catholic Church in Ngangu in the Chimanimani area in Zimbabwe, show victims of tropical cyclone Idai housed in the same building the dead and the living who have been displaced sharing the same shelter.
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Questions continue to be raised with regards the preparedness of the Zimbabwean government in dealing with natural disasters. The dissemination of factual information to help warn those that might have been in harm’s way can only be described as woefully inadequate the authorities failed to provide timely interventions and this resulted in calamity.
There has been a high number of deaths recorded so far in the wake of a tropical storm that hit Manicaland on Friday.
President Mnangagwa has come under heavy criticism because he opted to fly out of the country when the country faced a disaster. Cyclone Idai, had already caused destruction to many parts of Mozambique and Malawi. Weather experts had been issuing warnings about the potential danger posed by the cyclone for a number of days before disaster struck in Manicaland.
The death toll in Zimbabwe is now believed to be over 60 and hundreds are still unaccounted for. The trail of destruction, according to reports from Manicaland, is reminiscent of Cyclone Eline that hit parts of Zimbabwe in February 2000.
This has prompted pointed questions with regards the country’s state of disaster preparedness. Citizens have taken to social media to fund raise. Some question why government can easy hire chartered jets to fly government officials out of the country for private medical treatment and yet fail to avail funds to hire rescue helicopter for marooned citizens affected by this natural disaster.
Several homes and bridges were swept while power and communication was cut off in Chimanimani which has so far been the hardest hit area. Meanwhile, The Zimbabwean government says it had activated its disaster management systems in anticipation, but this did not include evacuations.
