Durban – South Africa’s military has so far deployed 400 of the 10 000 troops earmarked for emergency, relief and reconstruction operations in flood-stricken areas, a senior army officer said on Wednesday.
Torrential rains last week triggered record floods and mudslides tearing through eastern coastal parts of the country, killing more than 440 people and ripping apart roads, water pipes and thousands of homes.
“Currently we have 400 troops on the ground but the rest of the 10 000 are still coming. This is just an advance (team),” Brigadier-General Andres Mahapa told reporters.
Joint civilian and military search teams are still recovering corpses from the debris more than a week after the disaster struck.
“We are still digging out dead bodies,” said Mahapa.
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The army is bringing in doctors, electricians and specialist workers, and Mahapa said the focus would now be on clearing roads to allow the movement of goods and transport.
Several areas are still inaccessible – hampering the delivery of relief aid – after bridges and roads cracked under the weight of the worst floods to hit the country in living memory.
“We are also going to assist with establishing temporary bridges while we are trying to fix the bridges after the mop up,” Mahapa added.
Major-General Sandile Hlongwa, who is commanding the joint operations, said while the country was “prepared” for a disaster, the extent of the devastation had come as “a shock”, with unprecedented destruction.
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Referring to the destructive mudslides, he said: “We have never had that before”.
Earlier Hlongwa and municipal officials including engineers conducted an aerial survey of the city to determine which sites should be prioritised, and work on the ground is set to begin soon, he said.
“We are not going to sleep. We’re going to start with our planning in order to execute tomorrow,” Hlongwa vowed.
Stricken communities desperate for water and other basic services to be restored have questioned why the military was not brought in sooner.
“We understand the pain they are enduring,” Hlongwa said of the flood victims. “To mobilise the equipment and personnel, it takes time.”
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Source: AFP
Picture: Getty Images
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