Zimpapers Logo

Elita chikwati Senior Reporter
Government says it will study further the nature of Cyclone Idai to determine what transpired when it hit Chimanimani and Chipinge areas as there are reports of tremors being felt prior to it making landfall.

Government also seeks to get a clear explanation for the huge boulders that destroyed infrastructure and human life.

This came out when President Mnangagwa addressed a Methodist Church in Zimbabwe congregation at a mourning ceremony in Mabelreign, Harare yesterday.

The President said some people experienced tremors before the cyclone and also some of the boulders stones that were washed away by the rains seem to have come from under the water.

“We need to investigate what really transpired when the cyclone hit these hard-hit areas. Some people reported feeling tremors before the storm.

““There is an area in Rusitu, Manicaland were there was a business centre, police station, lodges, banana plantation and agriculture extension officers.

“The policemen, business people and extension officers were all swept away,” he said.

Local Government, Public Works and National Housing Minister July Moyo said it was important to study the nature of the cyclone.

“We are also beginning to study the nature of that cyclone and need to see if there are other related effects that may not necessarily be the cyclone itself and that area we now need to look at it to get an understanding of what transpired.

“You cannot explain the stones, the boulders that have come in the rivers.

“They do not seem to have come from the mountains but they are there and they are the ones which destroyed the villages.

“Our own civil servants, public servants were een taken away. That is the nature of what we are faced with,” he said.

By Friday 154 people had died, 162 injured, 136 still marooned and 4 884 completely displaced while 187 are missing.

According to the Ministry of Local Government, 95 percent of the road networks in the affected areas were damaged.

Government and others organisations are prioritising on saving lives, treating the injured and recovering mudslide and rubble covered bodies.

The declaration of state of disaster by President Mnangagwa invoked the reactivation of the Cabinet Committee on Environment, Disaster Prevention and Management (CCEDPM).

The committee is tasked with the responsibility to integrate disaster risk reduction measures into all development initiatives and optimal readiness for emergencies and disasters.