The visit to the Manicaland cyclone affected areas was more
of a listening-interface and interaction with the communities platform. The
affected spoke about their ordeals & shared their harrowing experiences.
I went to Mhandarume, Wengezi, Nyanyadzi,Tanganda halt,
Devuli primary school and Birchnough bridge but couldn’t make it to Nedziwa,
Ngangu, Kopa, Skyline and other areas in Chipinge most affected by this
catastrophic disaster as the roads were impassable.
I love the people of Manicaland. Chimanimani and Chipinge
are great places. I marvel the beauty of our country. We met wonderful people.
Though marginalized and tormented, the people have the zeal to better
themselves. It really breaks my heart.
The most affected places are most likely going to remain
inaccessible by road. The humanitarian challenge will remain for some time as
the cyclone has destroyed sources of livelihoods, it is important for human
assistance to remain active beyond Cyclone Idai news headlines.
We have assembled local teams and leadership on the ground
aimed at identifying victims that need further help or medical attention &
to enable those victims to be transported to a facility capable of giving them
the care they need.
I salute the brave ordinary people whose personal
sacrifices saved lives. The spirit of ubuntu extended by Zimbabweans from all
the corners of the country & from the Zimbabwe
Diaspora has been unprecedented, exemplary and legendary.
The lesson to draw from this is that the people united are
best able to respond to any emergency. I urge the nation to harness this ubuntu
spirit and to use it to build capacity for responding to similar emergencies in
the future.
I acknowledge the intervention of various local,
provincial, national and international humanitarian organizations that
responded swiftly and continue to respond to save and protect lives.
The response of the people was better than the response of
the State which came like an afterthought when cyclones are a scientific
phenomena whose formation & trajectory can be detected and forecast. Saw
Cyclone coming but state did little to warn& remove people from harm's way
With the advent of Climate Change, cyclones have become
regular in our part of the world. Citizens would have thought by now the State
has learnt something about how to save lives and to protect the people during
these deadly cyclones.
11/16The sad reality is that the disaster preparedness of
the entire infrastructure of the State is itself a disaster. Indeed,
devastation caused by Idai, especially the tragic loss of life, has exposed the
clear and present danger that the State itself is a disaster.
Emergency situations require emergency responses. And
emergency responses require emergency preparedness. The State is wanting in
this regard. We dare find urgent ways to rectify this incapacity to enable the
State to be in a position to save lives and protect citizens.
Most of our road infrastructure and bridges are
substandard and of poor workmanship. What we want here is a National
Infrastructure plan for the whole country spanning into 20 to 50 years that
speaks to national focus on ..roads & rail networks, bridges & bullet
trains.
Haphazard settlement in the countryside is a ticking time
bomb. We need integrated national settlement planning upon accelerated rural
upliftment program. We must have standards even models for structures and
houses certified for human habitation through a district planning commission.
We must put in place effective disaster preparedness and
early warning systems to be put in place through a revamp of the current
inadequate mechanisms.
We need an accelerated industrialization and urbanization
upon an integrated upgrade of rural facilities to state-of-the-art level in
health, energy, communication and housing. We must think and act SMART. Let’s
do it. We will do it!
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