The ManicaPost
Tropical Cyclone Idai which destroyed the sense and meaning of life in Chimanimani, Chipinge and other parts of the country was a natural disaster. This means that no one had control over it. It came, did what it did and went. But its aftermath is bigger than the disaster itself. The answers and solutions to the challenges and problems are not natural.
These will and must come with a lot of thinking, wisdom in planning, in co-operation and networking.
Infrastructure was completely shattered; roads and bridges washed away, electricity poles and lines brought down, homes literally swept into rivers and away into bigger rivers and beyond, meandering with what used to be life itself and livelihoods.
The rest is a story to be with us for a lifetime.
The survivors of the tragic cyclone in Chimanimani and Chipinge need more than food clothing and shelter.
They need not only water but clean and safe water to drink like every Zimbabwean.
While everything else is being planned and done, and we know government is already doing much, the health of the survivors of Cyclone Idai needs a quick, efficient intervention, otherwise the possibility of a cholera outbreak is looming to compound the trauma left by the tropical cyclone.
And UNICEF would not have come at a better time! It is already on the ground assisting Government to manage the crisis in Chimanimani and Chipinge.
Government with the aid of UNICEF will roll out mass cholera vaccines in the affected areas with one million doses having been secured already.
The Cyclone put survivors at the risk of water-borne diseases. UNICEF country rep, Ms Laylee Moshiri told The Manica Post a few days ago that about 1million doses of cholera vaccines would be arriving in the country ahead of the start of the mass vaccination programme next week.
Indeed, the UNICEF country rep cannot be closer to the truth when she says it is wiser to prevent than to wait for a cholera outbreak. Suffice to say, at this stage no confirmed cases of Cholera have been reported, except unconfirmed rumours doing rounds around Chimanimani and Chipinge.
UNICEF continues to assess the needs of the survivors of Cyclone Idai on the ground and have joined hands with the Zimbabwean government, other organisations and the local authority to find ways of bringing relief to the affected people.
Zimbabwe is obviously grateful to realise how many friends it has coming in, in various ways to reduce the pain and suffering of the survivors of Cyclone Idai.
The job that must be done in Chimanimani and Chipinge to bring back sense, purpose and meaning in the survivors of the cyclone has visibly begun, but much more still waits to be done.
To say that the job has not quite started is not an exaggerated way of saying the same thing.
UNICEF is certainly not the only organisation on the ground bringing resources and wisdom to alleviate the suffering of victims of Cyclone Idai, but Government and its people appreciates this cholera prevention intervention as a huge shot in the arm to avoid a possible heath disaster.
We are aware of numerous but huge interventions by local and international organisations.
As we write and report about them and the interventions they bring with them to restore sense, meaning and purpose in the lives of the Cyclone survivors, we want to express our own pride and honour for our country that has so many friends, particularly at this dark hour in the history of Zimbabwe.
