Cyclone idai
Mozambique deplores meagre aid for post-cyclone recovery
International aid organisations say some communities are still living in makeshift shelters and are vulnerable to climate change-related disasters.
Cyclone Idai struck in March last year sweeping away homes, roads and bridges, leaving around 700 people dead and displaced 1.5 million others.
The announcement was made by the country’s President Filipe Nyusi at the end of a two-day International Conference of Donors that drew around 700 participants from international organisations, donors, the private sector and civil society to the city of Beira.
A study conducted by aid organisations has determined that Mozambique will need to reach a target of $3.2 billion in order to rebuild infrastructure ravaged in two deadly cyclones.
The storms smashed into Mozambique in March and April 2019, hitting the centre and north of the country just six weeks apart.
Women in disaster zones are frequently targeted by sexual predators who take advantage of their vulnerability.
A cholera vaccination campaign is being implemented by authorities in Mozambique. This comes after more than 1,000 cases of the disease were confirmed in Beira in April after Cyclone Idai battered the city in March.
South Africa gave R135 million to the governments of Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi to help rescue and rebuilding operations after Cyclone Idai in March.
Cyclone Kenneth made landfall on Mozambique’s northern coast on Thursday, packing storm surges and wind gusts of up to 280 km per hour.
Floods and rains that followed sent brown water coursing through the streets of the province’s main city Pemba on Sunday and submerged roads leading to remote areas to the north and south.
Cyclone Kenneth hit the northern Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado late on Thursday, flattening entire villages with winds of up to 280km/h.
The first floods have already been seen in some parts of Pemba, the capital of Cabo Delgado province, as well as in surrounding areas, lashed by heavy rain since daybreak, AFP journalists reported.
Cyclone Kenneth is forecast to bring twice as much rain in Mozambique’s north, prone to flooding and landslides, over the coming days, the UN World Food Programme has warned.
Cyclone Kenneth was the most powerful storm on record to hit that part of the country and came just six weeks after Cyclone Idai.
Category three Cyclone Kenneth, packing winds of 160 kilometres an hour, struck the north coast's Cabo Delgado province late Thursday after swiping the Comoros islands.
The category four storm battered northern parts of the country with winds gusting up to 280km/h after killing three people on the island nation of Comoros on Thursday.
'The sexual exploitation of women struggling to feed their families after Cyclone Idai is revolting and cruel and should be stopped immediately.'
The cyclone is expected to make landfall in the country on Thursday evening just weeks after Cyclone Idai ripped through Beira, leaving hundreds dead.
Tropical Cyclone Kenneth is not expected to be as powerful as Cyclone Idai which struck Mozambique over a month ago but the impact could be even more severe, with more than half a million people at risk this time.