Another Day of Amazing Mozambican Rescues Highlights Resilient, Courageous People
ANDRIA HALL, CNN ANCHOR: We begin in Mozambique, where that nation is trying to cope with the catastrophic aftermath of one of its worst floods in history. Relief organizations from around the world are delivering food and supplies to thousands of people who have been rescued. About 13,000 people have been pulled from the floodwaters. At least another 800 remain stranded. Now, even as the floodwaters begin to recede, conditions in this southern African nation are still deteriorating. Robert Moore has the very latest.</s>ROBERT MOORE, ITN REPORTER (voice-over): It was intended as a final day to comb the floodwaters in the hope, however remote, of finding more survivors, but in the end, it was another day of many dramatic rescues, and at times the pilots put down actually in the flood water, their landing gear submerged, and discovered whole trains of people heading their way. They were also plucked from improvised tree houses, and we were still finding people waiting for help. (on camera): I have never seen a people with greater levels of resilience and courage. The people on this tiny boat, entirely lost out here on the vast floodwaters, don't even want to be rescued. Perhaps it is only now, a full week after this tragedy, that their remarkable feat of survival can be appreciated. (voice-over): But today, thousands of those marooned appear to be in rapidly-deteriorating conditions. Desperate hunger and thirst makes the distribution of food a nightmare. Children are drinking the contaminated river water, families are cooking bowls of locusts. Even as countries like Britain finally belatedly get their aide into the country, it has not yet reached the people who need it most. Robert Moore, ITN, Southern Mozambique.