Food Aid and Social Workers Deployed After Masvingo Hailstorm

The government has dispatched food aid and deployed social workers to Masvingo Province after devastating hailstorms damaged thousands of homes, disrupted essential services and left communities facing an uncertain recovery.

The disaster affected an estimated 17 000 houses including 8 500 roofs as well as schools, health facilities, businesses and public infrastructure in Masvingo, Chivi and Gutu districts.

The government has established a command centre at the Masvingo Civic Centre to coordinate relief operations with 90 tonnes of maize meal and 90 tonnes of rice dispatched to support affected communities.

Speaking during a post cabinet press briefing, Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Zhemu Soda said additional food and non-food assistance from cooperating partners was being distributed to 6 711 vulnerable households.

Forty social workers have also been deployed to provide psychosocial support to families struggling to recover from the destruction.

“The deployment of 40 social workers to provide psychosocial support complemented by faith-based organisations,” Soda said.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa has declared a state of disaster in Masvingo Province paving the way for a coordinated response to the damage.

The impact extends beyond housing, with five health centres, five tertiary institutions and 29 schools affected.

A further 173 government housing units and offices sustained damage alongside electricity infrastructure and other public utilities.

Power disruptions have affected industrial and business operations while damage to electricity supplies has also disrupted water and sewer services.

Agriculture and informal trading have suffered significant losses with 384 hectares of wheat and nutrition gardens damaged.

A total of 2,060 market stalls used by more than 6 000 traders were also affected threatening livelihoods in communities already facing the costs of rebuilding.

Soda said the government had activated civil protection structures at national, provincial and district levels to coordinate emergency assistance and recovery.

“The public is being informed that government through civil protection structures at national, provincial and district levels activated a comprehensive national response and resilience building initiative,” he said.

However, the disaster has also raised questions about the country’s preparedness for extreme weather events and whether warnings reached communities in time.

Soda said Cabinet had ordered an investigation into the country’s disaster preparedness systems, including the availability and distribution of weather-monitoring equipment and communication between the Meteorological Services Department and public information platforms.

He said the department had anticipated the severe weather, but weaknesses in communication may have prevented people from adequately preparing for the hailstorm.

“Given what actually transpired, that the Met Department had seen that there was going to be a disaster, but it shows that there wasn’t proper communication between the Met Department and our various communication platforms to ensure that the people would be prepared for that eventuality,” Soda said.

The investigation will examine the equipment available across the country, how it is distributed and whether more effective communication of weather warnings could have helped reduce the impact.

“An investigation will be carried out, the amount of equipment that we have, how that equipment has been distributed around the country, and to also ascertain whether the disaster could have been avoided, assuming there was going to be good communication between the Met Department and the communication landscape,” he said.

The findings could inform changes to early-warning systems and disaster response arrangements as authorities work to strengthen the country’s resilience to severe weather.

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