MAPUTO, Mozambique -- Many flood victims have begun returning to their villages, though the Mozambique government has strongly discouraged them from doing so, the Health Ministry said Monday.
Authorities said they can't yet provide food and medicine to villages in central and southern Mozambique that were hard-hit by last month's floods. The government also fears that additional rains could trigger more flooding in low-lying areas.The U.N. food agency Monday requested $27 million to feed an estimated 650,000 flood victims during the next six months. About 1 million Mozambicans are currently in need of aid, but the number is expected to decline.
Mozambicans who work on rebuilding the flood-damaged roads will be paid with food, said Abby Spring, a spokeswoman for the World Food Program.
"Many people have no livelihood at the moment, and we want to help get them back in the economic mainstream," she said.
In addition, aid officials said they would send seeds along with emergency food supplies to flood victims who need to plant new crops in April.
The floods wiped out farming fields throughout southern and central Mozambique, and if farmers miss the next growing season, the need for international food aid will be extended for months.
Graca Machel, Mozambique's former first lady and the wife of former South African President Nelson Mandela, said she sympathized with the victims' desire to head home, though she agreed with the government's position.
"It is extremely difficult to keep people in the camps," she said at a meeting of aid groups Monday. "They have legitimate concerns about what happened to their homes."
Many flood victims also want to go home to determine the fate of their relatives. Families were separated as they fled the rising waters and with victims are scattered over nearly 100 camps.
International aid groups have said they fear that last month's floods may have killed thousands, but Sunday's confirmed toll of 492 remained unchanged. Accurate casualty numbers probably won't be available until the Limpopo and Save rivers return to normal.
"As the floodwaters have receded, more bodies have been pulled from the mud," Antonio Machete, spokesman for Mozambique's National Institute for Crisis Management, said Sunday in announcing the death toll.
Previously, the government had been giving conflicting figures on the number of dead, ranging from 200 to 400.
Mostly sunny weekend weather allowed aid groups to make up for time lost during several days of heavy rains last week. Food aid is flowing to the refugee camps at a rate of more than 100 tons a day, but tents and medicines are in short supply in some areas.