"According to our estimation, 285,000 people are potentially under risk in the (Zambezi) river basin in four provinces: Tete, Zambezia, Manica and Sofala," Belarmino Chivambo, a spokesman from the national disaster management institute, told AFP.

"Up to now, 61,000 people have been displaced," he said. "What we are doing is to organise the conditions to accomodate all the people."

Chivambo said the coming three weeks could be "critical."

"We are worried because the peak of rainfall season is end February-early March. We are reaching the levels that we usually reach in mid-March."

"We are much more ready to cope compared to 2000 and 2001," he said, adding that "we have learnt some lessons."

"We are well connected with our neighbours, mainly Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe. We are receiving accurate information. The IT technology is much more developed."

All rights reserved. � 2005 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.