Luanda - The Southern African Development Community (SADC) has created emergency humanitarian operations centers to respond to cases of natural disasters in the region, the organization's chairperson president, João Lourenço, announced Monday in Luanda.
According to the Angolan Head of State, at the Extraordinary Summit of SADC Heads of State and Government on the El Niño phenomenon, in virtual format, these centers will enable a duly synchronized response to disasters and support the affected States.
When presiding over the meeting, João Lourenço explained that these structures came into operation on April 28th, after obtaining the signature of the majority of two thirds of the member states.
On the other hand, he said that there is a need for everyone to act in a coherent, active and dynamic way, in order to contribute to the preservation of the environment, as it is a common good.
The data, he said, clearly illustrate the dimension of environmental problems, as we have observed the way in which agricultural production and animal husbandry, especially in Zimbabwe, Malawi and Zambia, have been affected, putting food security in the country at risk.
sub-region.
He considered the issue relating to the use of water from unsafe sources that triggered the cholera outbreak in the region to be worrying, with a high number of fatalities, mainly in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Zambia, in Mozambique and Zimbabwe.
Appeal
President João Lourenço stated that the most affected countries need support to meet the needs of the populations and recover damaged infrastructure.
To this end, he said that SADC is mobilized to support these countries, but due to the scale of the problem, he directed the organization's secretariat to launch a humanitarian appeal, in order to obtain financial and other resources intended to support the ongoing recovery in the said States.
SADC includes Angola, South Africa, Botswana, Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. VIC/TED/DOJ
