From poverty to power - Oxfam-Québec

FROM POVERTY TO POWERThe key to success lay in the government’s prior preparations.In October 2006, it adopted a ‘Master Plan’ for dealing withMozambique’s vulnerability to natural disasters, covering issues rangingfrom the need for re-forestation and the development of a nationalirrigation system to the development of crops that can surviveprolonged droughts. The Master Plan also argued that Mozambiqueneeds to reduce its dependence on agriculture as the main source oflivelihood in rural areas through, for example, the development ofits tourist industry, while setting out a clear strategy for emergencymanagement.The plan notes that many people have grown up in conditions ofwar and disaster, where ‘begging has become almost a way of life’. Itargues that the ‘re-establishment of self-esteem, self-confidence anddignity’ are a basic precondition for ‘combating extreme poverty andreducing the country’s vulnerability to natural disasters’. For this reason,the government is determined to avoid ‘running to internationaldonors without first exhausting national capacities’.The strategy was first tested by the floods of 2007. It was an impressivedebut, as the government succeeded in evacuating everyone from theflooded areas without loss of life. Emergency preparedness measuresundoubtedly reduced the number of deaths and injuries caused by thecyclone that struck around the same time. People whose homes weredestroyed were moved to temporary accommodation centres andprovided with food, some health care, and basic social services. Asubsequent evaluation concluded that, without this assistance, therewould have been deaths and widespread suffering, and that ‘the realneeds for emergency relief were largely met’ by the operation. 88Throughout this exercise, the government of Mozambique made adeliberate decision not to issue an emergency appeal for internationalassistance, demonstrating the impact an effective state can have indealing with risk and vulnerability.A comprehensive human security approach to reducing the risksposed by natural disasters should include ongoing ‘mitigation’ efforts.Planning systems, building codes, and environmental regulations,for example, can limit damage. Early-warning systems and publiceducation programmes are also key: if villagers in Sri Lanka hadknown that the sudden retreat of the sea was the precursor to a tsunami,250