The National Institute for Disaster Risk Management and Reduction (INGD) is revitalizing and equipping 1,500 Local Disaster Risk Management Committees throughout Mozambique to mitigate the impact of the upcoming rainy and cyclonic season..

According to the president of INGD, Luísa Meque, quoted by AIM, the local committees are groups made up of volunteer members who, in turn, work on behalf of the community in actions for Disaster Risk Reduction in coordination with the government.

The media training seminar is a two-day event and brings together journalists from the provinces of Maputo City and Province, Gaza and Inhambane. The action arises from the need to improve the monitoring of adverse phenomena and the issuing of early warnings for the implementation of early actions.

"It is in this context that the process of creating, revitalizing and equipping 1,500 Local Disaster Risk Management Committees is taking place," said the president of the INGD on Thursday in Maputo province, at the opening of the Seminar to Train Communication Bodies on Flood and Cyclone Early Warning Systems.

She also said that for the next rainy and cyclonic season, the occurrence of the El Nino phenomenon, characterized by a lack of rainfall, and La Niña, which contributes to an above-normal rainfall pattern, especially in parts of the central and northern regions, are expected in southern and central Mozambique.

"In order to deal with the above scenario, with a view to minimizing the possible impacts, INGD and partners have designed Drought Early Action Plans for 11 districts that are vulnerable and prone to the occurrence of this slow-progressing event," he said.

These plans, he added, "range from strengthening access to safe water for the population, promoting and fostering drought-tolerant crops, providing agricultural inputs and small irrigation systems, animal supplementation programs and Social Protection Programs, with a focus on vulnerable groups".