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AFP
Beira, Mozambique
Aid workers faced disarray and a clamour for help Friday as they headed out across central Mozambique, battling to help tens of thousands of people battered by one of southern Africa’s most powerful storms.
A week after Tropical Cyclone Idai lashed Mozambique with winds of nearly 200 kilometres (120 miles) per hour, the rescue effort rose up a gear but the situation was often chaotic. “It was slow to start, it is now accelerating thankfully. We need to accelerate and expand,” World Food Programme (WFP) spokesman Gerald Bourke told AFP.
“We are not yet where it needs to be,” Bourke said.
“We are broadening the effort. It’s going to take a lot more because this is going to run for quite a while.” Relief agencies said the gravity of the cyclone and scale of the flooding it unleashed had been stunning.
The confirmed death toll in Mozambique and neighbouring Zimbabwe is nearing 400, and around 1.7 million people have been affected, according to estimates that include storm victims in southern Malawi.
Districts west of the Mozambican port city of Beira resemble an inland lake, and thousands of people are still trapped on roof tops and on tree branches.
- Anger -More than 65,000 people are already in shelters across in central Mozambique and other sites are being opened. In Dondo, near Beira, food distribution finally started on Thursday at one of 20 schools transformed into emergency shelters.
“Today is the first day we receive help,” said survivor Marta Antonio.
“But they don’t give it to everyone, they only give it to those who are in the rooms. But those outside receive nothing,” she said.
Victims who are not housed in the centres complain that they have been forgotten and for those lining up for something to eat, the food is insufficient.
Beira, Mozambique
Aid workers faced disarray and a clamour for help Friday as they headed out across central Mozambique, battling to help tens of thousands of people battered by one of southern Africa’s most powerful storms.
A week after Tropical Cyclone Idai lashed Mozambique with winds of nearly 200 kilometres (120 miles) per hour, the rescue effort rose up a gear but the situation was often chaotic. “It was slow to start, it is now accelerating thankfully. We need to accelerate and expand,” World Food Programme (WFP) spokesman Gerald Bourke told AFP.
“We are not yet where it needs to be,” Bourke said.
“We are broadening the effort. It’s going to take a lot more because this is going to run for quite a while.” Relief agencies said the gravity of the cyclone and scale of the flooding it unleashed had been stunning.
The confirmed death toll in Mozambique and neighbouring Zimbabwe is nearing 400, and around 1.7 million people have been affected, according to estimates that include storm victims in southern Malawi.
Districts west of the Mozambican port city of Beira resemble an inland lake, and thousands of people are still trapped on roof tops and on tree branches.
- Anger -More than 65,000 people are already in shelters across in central Mozambique and other sites are being opened. In Dondo, near Beira, food distribution finally started on Thursday at one of 20 schools transformed into emergency shelters.
“Today is the first day we receive help,” said survivor Marta Antonio.
“But they don’t give it to everyone, they only give it to those who are in the rooms. But those outside receive nothing,” she said.
Victims who are not housed in the centres complain that they have been forgotten and for those lining up for something to eat, the food is insufficient.
