Online Reporter
Post Reporter
MOZAMBIQUE and South Africa are receiving emergency response from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) following recent floods and harsh weather conditions that battered the two countries, resulting in the loss of lives, infrastructure damage and essential services disruption.
The deployment of SADC’s Emergency Response Team (ERT) is part of the regional bloc’s disaster response mechanisms in supporting member states’ Government-led initiatives in countries affected by disasters.
In a statement, SADC said Mozambique and South have already started receiving support.
“The SADC ERT will be on the ground from January 23-31, providing support to national authorities in emergency response, early recovery operations, continuous monitoring of the situation and consolidation of a regional humanitarian appeal based on the evolving impact assessments. Prolonged rainfall has resulted in river overflows, dam spillages, flash floods and flooding of ow-lying areas across several member states including Eswatini, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
“As of October 2025, over one million people have been affected by the floods across several member states, with some communities displaced and some people losing their lives, underscoring the urgent need for a coordinated regional response to support affected communities. In Mozambique, flooding has impacted central and southern regions, notably Gaza, Maputo, Sofala, Inhambane and Manica provinces, prompting the government of Mozambique to declare a Red Alert on January 16, 2026 and has appealed for humanitarian assistance. In South Africa, the government declared a State of National Disaster on January 18, 2026 following severe flooding in Limpopo and Mpumalanga provinces,” said SADC.
This prompted the regional bloc to respond to the situations by coordinating disaster preparedness, response and early recovery in conjunction with international partners like the United Nations, International Federation of Red Cross and Rec Crescent Societies (IFRC) and the United Nations, among others.
“The SADC ERT will support the governments of Mozambique and South Africa by establishing a clear comprehensive understanding of the humanitarian situation, response capacities and priority needs and to advise on how SADC can best provide targeted regional response. These efforts aim to ensure an effective, coordinated and timely humanitarian response to the flood impacts affecting the countries,” said SADC.
