WEATHER experts have warned of a tropical storm that is building up in the Indian Ocean and could make landfall in Madagascar at the weekend and proceed towards the Mozambique Channel early next week with the possibility of extending into Zimbabwe's Eastern province of Manicaland. Muchemwa Silence Mugadzaweta We are still healing from the painful Idai trail of destruction for which Defence minister Oppah Muchinguri acknowledged failure to plan and anticipate gravity. But seeing other countries being affected could have just given us a heads up. Villagers are still haunted by traumatic recollections of the aftermath of Idai. They were forced to bury their loved ones in a rush, using makeshift coffins; some never found their loved ones. Even though two days of mourning were declared by President Mnangagwa, the affected people are mourning for a lifetime. Despite official warnings of an approaching cyclone, Idai cometh as a thief in the night. Cyclone Idai struck Zimbabwe in March 2019, affecting 270 000 people. The storm and subsequent flooding and landslides left 340 people dead and over 300 missing. Agriculture, schools and infrastructure all suffered heavy impacts; many people lost their homes. Chimanimani and Chipinge districts were hardest hit. Today, many are still in tents; they have not recovered or healed. Hearing of another Idai sends shivers down their spines. According to Sadc, tropical Cyclone Idai affected three million people in the Republics of Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe leaving 839 people dead, the figure continued to rise as the rains stopped and water subsided. To date, it is reported that 201 476 people have been displaced and about 317 camps established. A total of 2 347 people have been reported injured and over 300 people still missing in the affected countries. The loss extended to food stocks and livestock making food accessibility and availability more difficult after the cyclone. But, did we learn anything from the Idai situation as a country? Generally, local and national government in affected areas were invisible and ill-prepared at the onset of the disaster. The situation was made worse by inadequate and dwindling financial support for recovery programmes as well as the slow pace of rebuilding efforts by government. This has left a lot of people stranded in inhabitable makeshift accommodation risking diseases like cholera and malaria. Now the Meteorological Department tells us to be calm. They say once bitten twice shy isn't it. People know what happens in Zimbabwe when disaster strikes, we are on our own. Right now we do not need calming messages; we need an efficient disaster risk management plan, not a document plan but a practical effect of it. We do not want to repeat a situation where there will be appeals for technical, financial and logistical assistance in the midst of a disaster. Yet the Civil Protection Unit (CPU) is said to be on high alert, high alert doing what exactly? Is there an evacuation plan, how much is available in terms of monetary value for assistance? These i
