Govt receives relief donation

destructive hailstorm that hit Mwenezi and Chiredzi districts in MasvingoProvince last April destroying homes, schools, clinics and crops.

Local Government, Urban and Rural Development Minister Ignatius Chombo received the donation worth 12 million yen (USD$120 000), which included 2 000 blankets and 100 tents.

The Japanese Ambassador to Zimbabwe Yonezo Fukuda handed over the emergency relief items on behalf of the Japanese government.

“The government of Japan is extending this emergency assistance from a humanitarian standpoint, in view of the severity of the disaster and cordial relations between our two countries. It is a token of the Japanese people’s deep sympathy for those affected by recent adverse weather patterns,” he said.

“Having experiences of natural disasters such as the latest Great East Japan earthquake some two years ago, the Japanese people fully understand the vagaries of such destruction.

“It is our sincere wish that this gesture, however, modest, will go some way towards alleviating the plight of those people displaced by the hailstorm.”

Minister Chombo hailed the relations that the two countries have enjoyed since independence in 1980.

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“This donation has come at the most appropriate time when our winter is setting in. The blankets and tents will definitely go a long way to warm these people in Chiredzi, Mwenezi, Mangwe and Gwanda districts,” he said.

“Please accept our heartfelt gratitude for these items. We cherish your friendship and the people of Zimbabwe will always be grateful.”

He said the Japanese government had made important contributions to the country through Unicef, Food and Agriculture Organisation and through its development aid arm — the Japanese International Co-operation Agency (JICA).

Japan supported Zimbabwe with emergency relief supplies worth 22 million Japanese yen when Cyclone Eline battered eastern and southern parts of the country killing 70 people and displacing nearly half a million people in March 2000.

Two months ago a freak and violent hailstorm left a trail of destruction in Chiredzi and Mwenezi districts in the southern part of the country destroying homes, schools, clinics and crops.

At least 1 861 households were left needing emergency relief assistance.